70's Talk
by Moonshown
Summary: Sawyer and Juliet in the 70's, things that made them finally see who was standing right in front of them the whole time. Also, lot's of hippies, drinks and VW vans. And a little AU
1. Exhibit C

Okay... I was SOOOO NOT planning on this to be published, but it turned out kind of good...so here it is. Its a little more "adultish" than my other stories and I think I actually like it best, but I don't know what you will think though.

Anyway, as usual everything belongs to its rightful owner and I just mean to amuse and entertain :)

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><p>This was not fair. James looked at Bella, in her high-waisted short-shorts and tank top, her eyes widely suggestive as she stared at him. He could smile and he'd be in bed with her in half an hour.<p>

Fuck foreplay. He thought as she asked him a question.

He nodded, hoping a yes or no answer would be sufficient. He was too busy seizing her up. He thinks a little more, but his brain was never good at differing between things when his balls were largely concerned.

It was a do it and get out of there quickly situation.

No love, no commitment and no foreplay. Straight to the point; why he would even look at a manicured dummy like Bella in the first place. She'd probably never read a single book in her life, so no; he was not looking for conversation.

If he wanted conversation, he'd go and see Juliet at the motor pool.

Yes, Juliet, the only obstacle between James and Bella's bed. He had known the woman for a couple of months after all she had put him through in the first place. He was at a loss at how strange he felt around her.

So what did Juliet have to do with him getting laid? She wouldn't even have to know, but even if she did, it wouldn't matter. They were friends. Friends encouraged friends to get laid…unless they weren't just friends.

Shut up. Okay. What now?

He opened his mouth for a moment, still unsure what he was going to tell her. He closed it and opened it again, 'Ya got any Barry White records?'

He smiled a lopsided grin so that one of his dimples was more obvious then the other.

Friends. Just friends.

* * *

><p>Juliet was tired and she was not in the mood for the games James sometimes played. She did not want to pay "I never" or Monopoly, or anything else from his wide array of selections. He was like a five year on a sugar rush sometimes.<p>

She shook off her boots and sighed; who was she kidding though? She was looking forward to his shit eating grin and his silly little trinkets and stories that made her forget she was stuck in the seventies. Made her forget she would never see Rachel again and that half the people she knew were dead...a quarter of them at her own hands.

'Hello?' she called out as she flicked on the lights, squinting in the sudden flood of florescence works illuminating of the light bulb. 'James?'

No answer came and she wondered why, he was always home, on the couch, in the kitchen or just wondering around, looking a little lost and more than a little cute.

But not that evening.

She shrugged to herself. He probably had a longer shift, but it made no difference to her. It wasn't as if they were _together_. They hadn't even chosen to be roommates. Damn romantic hippies had just assumed like cows, but were in the process of getting them separate houses.

More shower time for her, Juliet decided, choosing not to think about him and succeeding until she reached the shower, but she found her mind sneaking back to him.

His smile and eyes and lips and arms and…fuck. There she went, irrational that a man, a boy, who looked like him would take any interest in the scattered pieces of her. Even if he did, she wouldn't let him.

She had enough of "boys" for a lifetime. Boys liked their toys new and shiny and expensive, they like their mansions big and their cars fast. A little blood never hurt either. That was a boy; very few men were around.

Edmund Burke; exhibit A.

Benjamin Linus; exhibit B.

James "Sawyer" Ford; exhibit C?

So why was she staying after his begging her if she knew this?

Yeah, she'd felt something. Something she couldn't categorize as anything. Pieces of stuff bobbing around in her head always in and out of consciousness. She sighed and turned on the tap at full blast and closed her eyes as the hot water wetted her.

She washed up; she dried her hair, and stepped out of the shower. So where was James anyway? Deciding she was too tired to make anything, she simply chose not to eat.

It was his damn turn to cook anyway.

"I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do…" ten…eleven…twelve. Juliet wasn't sure how many times she could read the same paragraph from To Kill a Mocking Bird. Her eyes shot to the door every other minute, she was looking for a man whom she knew had that sort of up standing, but she hadn't found him.

Maybe she was hoping James would come waltzing through the door, automatically a replica of Atticus.

Suddenly however the door swung inward, directly below the clock reading eight. He was late.

'You're a little late,' Juliet told him, pretending to be indifferent.

He grunted something unrecognizable and lit the cigarette loosely sitting between his lips, cupping his hands around the flame from the light and inhaling immediately.

He blew the smoke into the air before him and they both watched as it dissolved to nothing, then James shut the door and Juliet raked him with her eyes.

She hated smoking, and she wouldn't hesitate to nag him about it, but his appearance was more interesting; he wore his shirt undone and his belt five loops too loose. He looked husked and his hair was in tangles. She knew the way he looked could not be mistaken for any other.

Juliet abruptly got to her feel. 'Good night.'

'What? Where ya going?' he called after her as she shut her bedroom door behind her. 'Blondie?'

She leaned back against the door listening to him. Her heart was beating a thousand miles per hour, how could she have believed he wouldn't go and get laid every other day after work. Why was she even so moved by this?

They were just friends.

But she was crying; tears running down her cheeks without her own consent.

What the hell was wrong with her? She barely knew him. He had her back and she had his, that was all just mutual. Nothing more, nothing less.

He could get laid if he wanted to, but…

'UGGHHH!' She half screamed and hurled the book across the room. She was fucked. Stuck in the seventies for his word and then he comes home like this? She had somehow conjured a different picture when she agreed to stay.

Was it the childish illusion that she could change someone as messed up as him? Or that they would live a dandy life together and never look back?

Yeah, she was totally fucked.

Outside James stared at the door imagining her on the other side and her expression, but he could not. She was a blank for him. He hadn't figured any of her out yet. He didn't even know anything real about her past.

Now, Bella didn't seem worth it. He would rather be talking to Juliet than staring at her door feeling like shit after having done what his impulse told him to. He slumped where he stood and closed his eyes, the inhaled again and exhaled the smoke.

He hadn't meant to fuck it up.

Back in the room Juliet lay on the bed, spread-eagle and listening to the taps working their magic, getting water to the shower. She opened her book again, her mind racing with all sorts of thoughts. It was the beginning of her third week in Dharma after post-poning her submarine trip for another month after James assuring her that they would go zooming back to the right time any moment…NOW!

But that, she felt, wouldn't happen for a while.

She had never wanted to leave so much as now. Why should she have his back if he didn't have her's. Yes, she would leave on the next submarine and no matter what James said or did, she would not listen.

He could do as he pleased and it didn't have to worry her one bit. They didn't even have to be friends anymore. He was an asshole either way.

Fuck him, she thought bluntly as she threw her book to the ground and turned, curling up into a ball to maintain her warmth.

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><p>Hope you enjoyed...<p>

Review, Rant & Respond.

P.s I know I should be doing justice for my other stories, but no lost fan fiction writer can help being sucked into those three years :P

R.F.A


	2. Grit

Dear James Ford,

I hate you; I think you are the next worst thing after Edmund and Ben. I wish I had never met you before and I wish we weren't stuck on an island together.

Sincerely Juliet Burke

This was silly. She was being silly, right? She hadn't spoken to him for three days and he had barely seen her for three days.

She was definitely giving him the cold shoulder and now she was acting like a kid. Or maybe she was just afraid and couldn't say everything on the crumpled note to his face.

The notion of children was that they were afraid, wasn't it? They were little people, with little experience and nothing to go about. James didn't like children and he was very sure he never would.

Juliet was an adult despite her behavior, on second thought; James doubted that he was meant to find the note in the wastebasket. Yes, definitely. But who the hell was Edmund and what had he done to her to be listed before Benjamin Linus? If anything this made him determined to get he talking again, but Horace was yapping like a dog, right there, right in his face as he felt the frayed edges of the paper in his pocket.

'…So Jim will you be coming to our little get together?'

_What the hell are ya yapping about? _James thought in light annoyance as he looked at Horace, looking completely neutral and even interested. 'When is it Boss?' he drawled, shoving his other hand into his too small pocket too.

'Sunday.'

'Sunday...' James repeated, for a moment thinking carefully, but not putting too much effort into the task. He wasn't the "effort" type. Maybe Juliet would be there, and maybe she wouldn't. Another friend of his would be there…beer. Maybe some other type of alcohol to drown in too; but he knew Miles and Jin wouldn't allow that. So he nodded, taking his hands out his pocket and rubbing them together. 'That sounds just dandy,' he replied in thickly layered sarcasm.

'Great!' Horace beamed at him. 'I hear the ladies are pulling out the dresses…so try to look nice.'

Nice? James…nice? Those two words somehow didn't fit in a phrase. Maybe "rugged" and "James". Or "asshole" and "James". Devilishly charming…yes.

Nice? No. James Ford did not do nice and Jim LaFleur would only do so over his dead body.

'Yeah,' James huffed, laughing a little at the idea.

Horace frowned slightly, but he shook it off. Damn hippies didn't like to see the bad side to anyone. Maybe that's what pissed him off in this place; no one really hated him.

… Except the one person whom he wished didn't hate him.

He guessed in the seventies everything was backward.

Which looped him back to the subject of Juliet. Maybe if she was a hippie things with her would be a little more…ugh…groovy?

Maybe he might try to look "nice" just for her sake on Sunday. It couldn't be too hard right?

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><p>She used to love dresses, all the exotic shapes and sizes and all those weird and wonderful material they came in. That was before the Edmund Era and Ben's dynasty. Before she found herself in the seventies, in the dressing room of a woman named Amy, on an island with fascinating capabilities and hippies.<p>

Juliet spun around and around in slow circles dresses all around her. Every colour, but most were the same type; tight in the middle and flaccid at the bottom and the cleavage was the only thing that was altered here and there.

It seemed that the cleavage decided what sort of dress it was.

'So…pick one!' Amy cheered her on, but she was lost. She did not like dresses, because every time she wore a dress it never went well in general. Especially when men were around.

Like on their second anniversary she had worn a red cocktail dress, cheeks flushed and excited to be going out with Edmund. Then she'd stepped out of the silent car ride and he'd looked at her, and then raised his eyebrows.

'Isn't that a little small?' he'd asked her, eyeing her mid-section.

Let's just say, she'd never sucked in more air than she did on that night.

Then the tragedy rearranged itself in a scenario with Ben. It was her birthday, her second year on the island and she'd worn a simple, loose dress to grant herself the gift of comfort for the day.

'Impractical aren't we today Juliet?'

She'd blushed a deep crimson and changed during the lunch break into jeans and a shirt.

So, no, her history with dresses wasn't all that good.

'Amy - really, I'm not into dresses,' Juliet lied.

'Yes, and men aren't into women. Okay, try these, party is late this afternoon, so you need a dress that isn't all that night, but day too. Something that says dusk,' Amy answered as she rummaged through the dresses.

'Really?' Juliet asked incredulously, taking a dress she handed her. It was WAY too floral.

'Yes. Okay try these two as well.'

Juliet took them with a sigh. 'Trust me, dresses do not sit well on me.'

Amy laughed softly and shook her head. 'Just try them…bet you'll win Jim back from that bitch.'

Juliet felt herself redden at the mention of that whole affair. 'Why would I want to win James back?'

'Because every other woman is planning to and it's just something to aim for when picking a dress...'Amy laughed. 'It's a motivational score.'

At this Juliet smirked. 'What did you do before James came along?'

'Oh you know, a little Horace here and of course a tad of Kurt,' Amy shrugged. 'But not me of course.'

Juliet smiled lightly and squeezed her shoulder. 'Its okay.'

Amy nodded and blinked away tears and deluding thoughts of the late Paul. 'Okay! Get them on!'

Juliet nodded and shoed her out of the dressing room and began trying on the dresses. It was going to be a long afternoon.

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><p>Damn hippies warmed up to everyone real fast, so that come Sunday evening James, Jin and Miles felt as though they were family. That was funny though, because they didn't even know half the people properly. It was all about the peace, the music and the groove with these people.<p>

'So, are you thinking of anyone?' Miles nudged James who was in the process of bringing the lip of his beer to his mouth. He ignored Miles for a moment, taking a long drink from his can and swallowing, the making the "Damn that's so refreshing noise" all coke commercials used to have and smacking his lips.

He shook his head. 'Nup, just me, myself and I, Enos.'

Miles shook his head. 'It's a shame, because every other girl in a nice dress only got eyes for you.'

'Did you expect them to be on you?' James teased, taking another swing.

'Well, they drop like flies when they see me…Sooo, they resort to second best over here,' Miles pointed out, mentioning James.

'Is that right?'

Miles nodded and reached for the table behind him, then cracked open another beer for himself. 'But really? What about that Bella girl?'

James laughed bitterly took another long drink, finishing his can and crushing it, before tossing it in the nearest bin and taking another, cracking it open and drinking deeply. 'I ain't one to stick around.' He shook his head.

Miles frowned 'And Juliet?'

'What about Juliet?' James snapped.

'I dunno, she's really pissed of at you,' Miles noted, leaning back against the table and watching the few couples sway to the groove of Chic, discoing as they went and Miles just smiled at them. He could be laughing, but he was too concerned with the idiot next to him, who was running away from the best thing that had ever happened to him.

'Yeah, well noted Einstein,' James snorted, continuing his hazardously fast drinking marathon.

'You should apologize.'

'I didn't do nothing wrong!' James shot back, his eyes narrowed as he wrenched towards Miles and stared down at him, towering over the smaller man.

Miles however kept calm and replied with a shrug, acting as though he did not care. 'Whatever man.'

'How are you two enjoying the BBQ?' Horace came waltzing up to them, bobbing up and down to the music slightly as he spoke.

'Wonderful,' Miles smiled, his sarcastic coated by a glazed smile.

'Excellent. You Jim?'

James just took another deep swing then nodded off-handedly. Fan-fucking-tastic Boss, he thought, but did not say, choosing to keep himself in line with his manners.

'Good. Oh, and I was going to tell you about the housing arrangement; we have an empty unit for Juliet, a house to herself actually, because a couple are vacating. Is that a good arrangement for you?'

Fuck no! It was certainly not! He liked living with her, she was nice to talk to, he liked knowing that whilst he lay in bed tossing and turning with no sleep to be found, the creaking of the bed in the next room meant that she too was just like him.

She made him not feel so alone and lost.

So no, it was not at all a good arrangement.

'Well, I don't tell her what to do, so ya can ask her what she wants ta do,' James replied nonchalantly, perfectly masking his fear and loss.

Miles coughed, masking one insulting comment or another and nodded at the men. 'I'm going find Jin. Jim, Horace.'

James scowled at Miles who left and Horace smiled, his face plump and jolly. 'Well Jim, dance a little later, it will be nice to see you moving around.'

James nodded and smiled artificially, his dimples over-exemplified. Yes when pigs flew he would be found dancing. He began to take another swing, but he did a double take moving his hand away and concentrating on keeping a straight face when he saw Juliet.

Truth was, that he could almost cry. James. Never. Cried.

When he saw her, and the way that she looked coming in from the distance and the sun setting her hair aglow, he could feel all his senses sharpening towards her. He could cry for the beauty that she was and all things she made him feel for that one moment, the awe, and the amazement…the love even? Things he hadn't ever felt, but had heard of and read about and turned his nose up at.

The same bullshit that poets wrote was all that he felt for a full moment in the setting-sun.

Then it was gone, leaving him with a deep yearning to bring it back. James jolted himself into life and leaned back into the table again, his true emotions masked as he continued watching her.

He had to admit he had never encountered anyone more beautiful than Juliet.

Her dress was simple; it hung a few centimeters above her knees and gathered around her waist with a ribbon of the same material bowing at the back into two large loops. It was a mid navy and sleeveless, accompanied by white thongs. The cleavage wasn't all that revealing either.

She looked amazing to him and apparently every other man too, because half of everyone was looked at her. He began to approach her, but he remembered his pride and stayed where he was, in agony as to what he should do.

Juliet didn't like her dress, she felt as though she was drowning in the folds of it, but she couldn't tell if it was too big, or too small, or too short, but she knew _something _was wrong with it.

It probably just doesn't look good on me, she thought as she stood in the corner and watched a hippie guy approach her. What was his name again? Bill? Brian? Bert?

'Hey...erm I'm Chad,' he told her, holding out a hand.

She smiled politely and shook his hand briefly; she had been WAY off his name. 'I'm Juliet. Nice to meet you.'

'So how's the party going for you?' he asked, pushing his glasses back up his nose.

_I haven't been here long enough!_ She wanted to scream. _And at this rate I won't be staying for much longer! _

'Great.'

Was great the right terminology in the seventies?

'You're one of the people who came on that ship right?' he asked, taking half a step closer.

She nodded, taking a deep breath and shifting from one foot to another, taking the time to side step away from him as well.

'Yeah and that grit Jim LaFleur was your ship captain right?'

What the hell was a "grit"? Well, whatever it meant she did like Bill's tone…or was it Brian. Though…why should she care, she knew James was a "grit".

She was about to nod again when the "grit" made his appearance, smiling smoothly. She felt a rush of gratefulness for his rescue and anger for the cigarette he was harboring between his forefinger and middle finger.

From a third person objective, he looked pretty sexy. He was neat, his hair possibly brushed, his lame flowery seventies shirt the least lame in the crowd and it was certainly the first time she had seen him in slacks. His sleeves were rolled up as usual and his shirt tucked into his pants, held by a belt.

They looked a little shrunken on him, but she wouldn't blame him; he was probably the tallest guy in all of Dharma. His shoes looked the type to make the squeaky noise on floorboards too.

Yes, definitely smooth if not nice. As she recalled, James didn't do "nice".

What's-his-face swallowed and confirmed that "grit" wasn't something James would like to be referred to as and he muttered something about getting a drink before shuffling away. At least that was over.

'So, I see ya got the grease off,' he said, smiling his most alluring smile and dragging on his cigarette.

Juliet felt a tidal wave against another inside her as she felt most attracted by him, but angry too. She just gave him a steely look and gently plucked the smoke from him before crushing it against the softly swaying tree behind her and handing it back to him.

'You're going to die before we find Locke if you keep going at this rate,' she told him coldly.

He looked down at the crushed smoke in his hand and shook his head, laughing softly, but not entirely humorlessly, drawing a little closer.

She wondered if he even wanted to find Locke and get back to their own time, or if he wanted to stay in the 70's and enjoy the hippie life.

But then she remembered Kate and took a step back; of course he wanted to find them and get back to "their" own time. James loves Kate, Juliet calculated as though she was still stuck in junior school.

James loves Kate.

'It's the trend in the seventies,' he told her simply, shrugging a little.

'So that's why you keep your hair like that,' she said as though something huge was dawning on her, but sarcasm obviously playing part in her tones. 'Stuck in the past aren't you James?'

He laughed a deep laugh and looked around. 'Ya bet.'

She felt her lips curve upward at the reply. Well, they literally were stuck in the past. They eventually faltered into silence and stood just looking into each other's eyes without a speck of realization they were doing so.

'So, big H said that he gotcha a new house, ya know when ya wanna move out,' he told her after a few more moments.

She felt a sudden surge of relief, but realized it was pointless; she was leaving the island soon anyway…they all had to, didn't they? Ou couldn't possibly run a life in the seventies and not go mad, right?

She wasn't very sure of anything, but if she wasn't, her expression did not say so.

'Hello?' He said waving a hand in her face…and then there was also James to think about, but why she consider him? _He_ never considered _her_.

'I'll think about it.'

'Oh, that's right ain't it, ya love coming home to this,' he joked gesturing himself with a crisp, down-stroked nod.

She arched her eyebrows and smiled in utmost amusement. 'Absolutely.'

He laughed at her sarcasm, but she just kept smirking. Juliet. Never. Laughed.

He cleared his throat and reached into his pocket, knowing he was either going to ruin the moment, or fix everything up all nice. 'So I was taking out the rubbish the other night and I found…this.'

He held up the piece of paper for her to see. Juliet stared at it for a moment before trying to tear it out of his hand…which he jerked out of her reach.

'Uh, uh, uh, ain't getting it back till ya tell why ya hate me so much,' he told her, smirking and teasing her with his height.

She stared daggers at him and tried to reach for it again, but he was a fucking tree. (not that she wasn't tall too…just not tall enough)

'Take a guess,' she said gesturing at him.

'I ain't a good guesser,' he answered, his smirk growing wider, playing games was his favorite mode. She had only ever met with his "playing games mode", "Pissed off southerner mode" and once, just once she'd met the "James can be all right if he wants to mode" on the dock the night they arrived.

She frowned deeply and stood still, straightened her dress and answered him in the most poisonous tone she could muster. 'Because you're a jerk and an asshole and if you were a woman, I'd also call you a bitch, but seeing as you _obviously _aren't I am not given that privilege!'

He raised his eyebrows high and looked at her; he thrived on this sort of criticism from most people and would laugh at it ordinarily. But Juliet was not "most people". He lowered his hand, his eyes still glued to her and kept them there when she ripped it out of his grip.

'Really?'

'Yes!' she hissed, tearing the paper up and throwing it in the air around them like confetti.

'So now I'm guessing ya are takin' that house,' he said, no longer smiling, but still amused, to hide his feelings.

She nodded once, her head held high.

He gave a sudden air of laughter and nodded, looking her up and down, trying to change the subject, deciding he had definitely ruined the moment. 'That's a nice dress, ya look hot.'

Maybe that would fix something…not that he didn't sincerely mean it either way. Juliet was taken aback that after her insulting him like that he should pay her such a compliment, but the whole notion of it was ruined by the demeaning word "hot"

'I don't do "hot" James,' she laughed shaking her head and crossing her arms and rubbing them, pretending that she was cold, when it was just self-conscience that was at play.

'Ya do beautiful?' he asked, sounding slightly annoyed that she wouldn't just live with the compliment and believe it. She was beautiful, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

She just exhaled and shook her head again. 'Where are Miles and Jin?'

He looked around and pointed them out to her, perfectly aware that she was changing the subject just because she didn't believe him.

'I'm going to get a drink with them. See you around grit boy,' she said, beginning to drift away, her eyebrows slightly arched.

He nodded, his disappointment masked by a handsome smile. What the hell did "grit" mean anyway? Well, it must've been some sort of insult...he'd give her that one.

He pulled out another smoke and lit it as soon as she was out of his "nagging range".

What would he do if he didn't have his smile?

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><p>Officially my longest chapter ever.<p>

Review, Rant & Respond

Hope it wasn't too long


	3. Dangerous Exception

James woke up with an unlit cigarette hanging on his lips and fully dressed on the covers. He slowly sat up, cringing as he did so, unsure if he was on the roof, or the floor.

Hell, he didn't even know his own middle name at that moment, but come to think of it, it may have been lost forever, because no one else really knew it either.

His head pounded as if there were a pendulum bouncing off the side of his brain every other second and he felt a wave of nausea rising in his throat, but somehow he kept it down and got out of bed, half running to the bathroom.

He swung heavily from one foot to another, the corridor longer than a marathon and every other small noise louder than a bomb. James reached out for the door and pushed it heavily, unaware of his surrounding as he dove for the toilet bowl and retched, throwing up. He held the side of the bowl, his knuckles white from the pressure he was exerting on it.

Okay, so maybe Jin, Miles and Juliet hadn't been able to stop him.

He wiped his mouth with the back of hand and leaned against the cold walls, taking deep breaths trying to remember why he was so hung-over, but the sound of the rain was stopping any sort of thought from being processed in his head.

But, it wasn't raining…it was the shower tap running.

James squinted at the shower, wondering why it would be running without anyone in there, but as the tap was turned off and the shadow behind the glass took the towel from the rack, it all became apparent.

Later he would swear that he hadn't had time to close his eyes, but the truth was that even if he did have time, he most probably wouldn't have closed his eyes.

Juliet stepped out of the shower, the towel only fitting one-third of a beach towel and therefore not providing much modesty. She, unlike James, saw him immediately and her mouth fell open, her eyes wide. She was too stunned to do anything and could only watch him continue squinting at her in mild amusement.

'Well, good morinin' Blondie,' he said, smiling.

She stared for another moment, before clutching the towel around herself even tighter. 'Get out!'

James put his hands over his ears, her voice echoing badly in his head and making his ears ring. What was the banshee screaming about? There wasn't much to see anyway. 'Hush up, I ain't seen nothing.'

'Close your eyes,' she told him shakily.

'Fine, fine,' he muttered, closing them and raising his arms in surrender.

'Don't look.'

'Not going to, as much as I wanna,' he teased despite his pounding headache.

Juliet gave a frustrated groan and stepped past him rushed into her room. She blushed and hoped he hadn't seen anything. She couldn't wait until she moved out.

Or could she?

It was hot. Well, that wasn't exactly unusual on the island. Juliet took a deep breath and forced herself to look away; James was running around with his shirt off. Okay, so that wasn't exactly unusual either. Nothing I haven't seen, nothing I haven't seen, she repeated. Except…except now it felt different, this time they weren't being chased by time and he had surprisingly lost some weight, which was a wonder considering he had two beers on most nights. He was lean and…wet.

He grinned at her as he came, just like the day that the freighter had sunk…which reminded her, Kate, Kate, Kate. Everything Kate. He would not be with anyone like Juliet though, whose biggest wish was to be reunited with her sister. Kate on the other hand had blown up her own step dad and drove her mum mad.

So maybe the situations were different, but the point was she still had family, but James and Kate didn't. They were so similar in many ways that it made Juliet wonder why Kate hadn't jumped the helicopter with him. Knowing the sort of person James had the potential to be Juliet might've jumped.

'Where the hell's your bikini?' he joked, smirking at her and shielding his eyes against the sun.

Okay, so maybe Juliet would've had second and third thoughts before jumping…

She just arched an eyebrow and gave him one of her infamous looks. 'I see you have yours on.'

James glared at her darkly and scowled, but did not make any attempt to shield himself from her observant eyes. He was wearing a gray Speedo-shorts – seventies style, making Juliet want to laugh and groan at the same time…although it wasn't exactly Sawyer material, she had to admit that he'd probably look good in anything he wore.

But they were small; James was probably still the tallest guy in Dharma.

Even flare pants. She added it to the list of "get James to wear when drunk" next to "cut his hair to see what it looks like" and taped the mental note somewhere in the recess of her mind.

'Man those look like a squeeze…I'd rather roast on the beach like Juliet here,' Miles laughed as he approached James, who's scowl deepened and began pulling on his pants.

'Oh don't stop…everyone was getting such a great show,' Juliet teased, smirking and feeling playful enough to tweak him.

'I-agree,' Jin piped up with broken English from where he sat next to Juliet, wearing sunglasses and looking cool.

Cooler than James anyway, but James wasn't too worried…April Fool's day was around the corner.

'See, even he sees it!' Juliet teased enjoying the look on James' face…not that she hadn't generally enjoyed watching him on that particular day all together.

'That IT!' James roared, but all in good nature, diving for Juliet all at once and throwing her over his shoulder like a sac of potatoes without notice.

She began to laugh and scream in alarm at the same time. 'PUT ME DOWN! JAMES! NO!'

He however took no notice and kept going as fast as he could, finally reaching the water and plunging her into it, but going with her at the last moment when she grabbed him by the arm. The ended up in a tangle of arms and legs, Juliet soaked to the bone and staring at him in shock, but James just laughing. They were held down by the waves, Juliet on top of James and unsure how to feel and think as they were swirled, all the time nose to nose.

Finally however she came undone from the knot of bodies slowly stood, the water falling back to her waist height as she held a wet shirt away from her so as to not reveal to him anymore than she had the previous week.

James looked at her carefully and smiled, treading the shallow water. 'I guess you aren't wearing a bikini then.'

Her jaw dropped open at his nerve and she kicked water in his direction. 'You'll get it back.'

He shrugged. 'Pay back ain't gonna get much better than this.'

Something in the way he said it made her smile a little, but she was offended…or would have been had it been anyone, but James. However, the vulgar and totally gorgeous man was the last person she wanted to make an exception for.

'Trust me, it will.'

His grin widened and he shrugged again. 'Whatever ya say Blondie.'

Little did James know, Juliet always kept her word.

* * *

><p>Short chapter, but I do it when I get a break so its like me fun time...anyway, the next chapters might be a little longer<p>

So...

Review, Rant and Respond

Thanks for reading.


	4. False Alarms

She never, ever, ever thought this would happen, but hey, five years ago she didn't think time travel would happen either…or a tragic divorce from point was she wasn't good at predicting…anything.

It was hot again and she sat on James' porch waiting for him to come home from his shift, her heart in her throat and wondering how he might've reacted when he first saw them. No doubt he and Kate had, had themselves a nice reunion. Yes, they were back…back…back to take them home…to Rachel!

Still though, it seemed too easy. Nothing on crap hole-island was easy. So after almost a month of being stuck in the seventies the rest just…find them? Something was off and she couldn't quite tell and she had, had the same feeling since the morning.

She had been under the van, minding her own business, humming the tune to Downtown and enjoying her greasy job, when suddenly Miles began banging on the side of the van and calling her name. Juliet had rolled out from under the van and took her goggles off, half enraged and half amused.

'What do you want?' she asked, getting to her feet and grabbing his elbow and pulling him closer so that she could avoid the furtive glances thrown in their direction.

Miles was panting, his chest heaving back and forth. He shook his head, eyes wide, and mouth open. 'They're back.'

'What!' she had hissed, pulling him closer.

Miles braced himself and shook his head. 'Jim, he walkie-talked me…he couldn't talk too much, but he said "they are back" and it was sorta crackly, but I guess he was busy…'

'What!' she hissed again for good measure, wondering if James was alright, but immediately she realized Kate would have come too…_he is probably more than alright._

Miles shrugged and frowned as she pulled him nose to nose. 'Hey, Jules, I know I totally turn you on and everything, but right now is not the best _time_!'

Amidst her raging emotions and the roaring in her ears, Juliet heard Miles and frowned, pushing him away an arm's length. Miles wasn't all that bad looking, but somehow, Juliet could never visualize anything more than friendship between them.

'What now?' she asked, her eyes sharp. 'They're gonna put us on a sub as soon as he brings them in!'

Miles shrugged again, helpless. 'All we can do is wait for Jim.'

'Okay. Okay…act normal!' Juliet told him as she tried to think of a plan.

'Yeah…too late,' Miles retorted smartly.

She gave him a cross look and continued staring into space for an idea. 'Yeah…leave it up to James, I'm sure Jack and the rest will make a plan with him anyway.'

'And right now?'

'Go back to work.'

Neither did much work after that.

So there Juliet was now, waiting for the almighty LaFleur.

'Hey Sunshine, miss me?' a southern drawl interrupted her fabricating of crazy scenarios.

'No, I like the view of the shrubs from this angle,' she replied her sarcasms not exactly obvious tone-wise, but he could tell.

James just smirked; making her heart do that funny thing she had made it vow to never do again. Just those dimples… and eyes…mixture of things on his face really…unless it wasn't just his face she was taking a liking to.

James tended to have that effect on women anyway, she concluded sternly. That was a little off topic…she mused as she went into their – his house behind him.

'Today was so damn hot, ya won't believe all the damn sand flees and bugs,' he complained.

Bugs? The weather? WHAT THE HELL WAS HE SAYING?

'Anything _interesting _happen?' she nudged.

He frowned a little and offered her a beer from the fridge. 'No, nothin' that excitin'.'

Juliet frowned at him deeply and took the beer without a word, cracked it open and took a long drink. She needed something cool…not to mention the alcohol.

'So like, nothing that _important_?' she asked the same question in a different wording.

James leaned against the kitchen counter smoothly. He shook his head and drunk from his can too and held up a hand as if he was remembering something. 'Well…I saw this weird puddle thing and the water wasn't like brown it was this black and grey…that was jus' spooky.'

Juliet listened as she drained the rest of her drink. Finally she slapped it down the counter and James raised his eyebrows at her and her heart did that funny skipping thing again but this time she ignored it well enough.

'Why don't you just tell me what happened with them!' she snapped, taking an intimidating step closer and her eyes cutting into his.

James frowned and gave her the look that said she was WAY off her rocker. 'Ya got a little…' he pointed to his own cheek, pretending to wipe of some grease from it. He was more than partially tempted to wipe it of her face himself and his hand itched, but he kept it at his side.

Juliet had the sudden urge to rub it off, but she was a little angrier than that. 'Just say it! Just say they're back! Just say they're stuck too! Just say you're going anyway!' she said in a jagged voice that still wasn't loud enough to be classified as a shout. Tears glassed her eyes.

James looked at her, finally serious, his face set and his eyes narrowed. She thought she could even see a little concern, oh yeah…and her heart did the skippy thing again.

'Juliet, I don't what ya are talkin' about. If "they" is the rest of em, I ain't seen head nor tail of em…unless ya have…?'

She stepped back and then another; an open book as she looked at him, all her emotion on display for him to see. All her weaknesses and hurt there for him to tinker with and play with. All Edmund's old toys suddenly were being shaken out of the chest of toys.

James looked softened as if he was grasping what he could finally see in her for those moments.

It was his heart's turn to do that skipping motion. It seemed impossible, but James recognized that he could and was having…_feelings (?) _for the woman before him and it felt alien to him, because he had never allowed himself to have feelings for anyone since he was eight.

Not even Kate.

And here was Juliet, her guts on the floor for him to mop with and he was actually having the oddest sensations. It was not pity and that was all he knew, but it made him feel a strange sort of warmth…it was all the bullshit poets wrote about all over.

Juliet was the first to gather her emotions in her arms and reset her cold, calculating façade and James followed suit naturally, his pride much too string for any sort of reminiscence to occur in that kitchen.

'I ain't seen em, that's all –,' suddenly however he stopped mid-sentence and shook his head, smiling ironically. 'That idiot. I said the water was "grey and black"…not "they are back".'

Juliet processed the thought, still trying to recover from her fear that he knew she had weaknesses and that he had absolute power over her. But he could always choose not to use that knowledge. She nodded off handedly when she should've given a relieved laugh…or some shitty soap opera reaction of perfect airbrushed and airhead "beauties".

She still had grease on her and now the fact that Miles had made a stupid mistake was nothing. It was just an unimportant event, lost in the backdrop of her revealing her insides to James.

'I have to go,' she half whispered and turned.

James did not watch her leave. He was too busy leaning his head against the cold granite counter and trying to stop the blood frantically rushing through him.

Suddenly Kate wasn't as she was an hour ago.

* * *

><p>James and Juliet had taken the worst of the blow and Miles Straume escaped with cutting looks from Juliet and a slap upside the head from James. Those, however seemed like grazes compared to the broken bones they, themselves had suffered.<p>

So they weren't really coming back and that was all jazz…or wasn't, when Juliet was scared of him. She thought she might actually rather him being with Kate…because her heart DIDN'T do that skippy thing.

Except it did do that.

And because she didn't think about him every other minute.

Except she did that too.

If Juliet's actions were boxes to be ticked on a teen magazine quiz to "_Do You Like Him?" _She'd get a "definite yes", but her life wasn't a teenage magazine, but in many ways it was similar. Plenty of juicy break ups…and did she mention her husband was run over by a bus in Florida…and for the few lame Sci-Fi readers, time travel was a bonus that life time?

She ran through all this again as she tried to eat breakfast at the cafeteria, having given up on cooking at home, because it was James and her thing to cook breakfast together. Her, the teacher and him, the student with "zip" cooking talent.

'Ya gonna eat those waffled?'

Speaking of the devil…

She shook her head, pushing the plate toward him, suddenly fascinated by the Coconut Telegraph. New records for sale! Only two coupons each! Couldn't these hippies incorporate some real money? She thought with shallow annoyance.

'I don't get why they don't use real money,' James said, swallowing a forkful of her untouched breakfast.

Crap…had she said that out loud, or could he read her mind?

She risked a glance and shook her head slightly. Unsmiling. Un-anything. She was rock as she gathered the rest of the paper together mumbled something before he had a chance to rip her open again and dissect everything, her broken life on display for him.

'Blondie!' he caught up to her minute later, his hand large and comforting on her shoulder as she froze outside the door.

Maybe I should run, she mused, half serious.

'We're havin' a games night tonight. Ya can come. Its at my place,' he sounded like a child proposing a game of hide and seek.

Our place, she wanted to say, but realized she no longer lived there. She nodded. 'Maybe I'll come.'

Then without a word she walked away, leaving him looking after her for a moment, before turning and kicking the ground as he went.

She probably thought he was an idiot, James realized as he went down the path leading to the Star station.

He probably thought she was an idiot, Juliet realized as she reached the motor pool and discarded the morning paper.

* * *

><p>And there goes chapter 4, hope you enjoyed :) Please review, makes my life happy, but anyway,<p>

Review, Rant and Reply

'Till later


	5. The New Southerner

'Everyone! C'mon out! Listen up!' yap, yap, yap, Jason was saying some shit and Juliet wasn't interested. She was too busy fixing the damn van and liked her dark refuge where it was just she and her thoughts. She was still trying to find out if she was going to James' place for their games night.

Why was her life so, fucking, hard!

She didn't know and she groaned at the thought, then she rolled out from under the truck anyway and took of her goggles, leaned against the door and crossed her arms in front of her chest. She watched along with the other dozen whom she worked alongside as Jason came forth and introduced a man whose jumpsuit looked brand new.

'All right, this is Quinn and he is new, you guys try and make him feel right at home,' Jason informed them, his voice deep and casual. 'Quinn, just to name a few-'

Jason began pointing out random mechanics until his finger moved onto Juliet. 'That is Juliet, she's been here a few weeks…and she is the only she at the motor pool, but she's like twice the man half these guys are put together so don't cross her.'

At this some gave protests and others chuckled and nodded in agreement. Juliet who was not the moon for games arched her eyebrows and gave Quinn an offhand wave, rolling her eyes at the rest and Jason.

Quinn's eyes however remained on Juliet for a good minute. She saw his profile for the first time; he had light green eyes and sandy, brown hair, his face following down in a heart shape. He was nearly as tall as James and his chin was dented slightly at the center.

He reminded her of James for some reason and he was attractive too, however her earlier thought that James was still the most attractive man around stood firm.

Meanwhile he had been looking at her profile too and he like her slender figure and the way she was standing seemed so alluring, but he did not give any signal to betray this thought.

'Okay, so Juliet, you're in charge of showing Quinn around. Back to work!' Jason finally barked.

Juliet approached Quinn and offered him a hand. 'As you have found out, I am Juliet and apparently I am a man and I don't take shit.'

He laughed lightly; he liked her already. 'Well I'm hopin' ya aren't a man.'

Woah…fuck! Did I just hear what I thought I heard? Juliet thought mutely. He had the same accent as James.

'No, last time I checked I was still a woman…but I don't like shit,' she told him.

'I ain't a fan of shit myself,' he answered in his southern drawl…wait; James was meant to be the one with the damn southern drawl!

Juliet smiled lightly and nodded. 'All right, so the Jacks are there, screws there, your odd bolts their, oil refill station…'

Quinn nodded at everything she pointed out to him, walking a couple of steps ahead of him and giving him a chance to steal a glance at her ass every now and again, but she never noticed. She was too occupied thinking that James wouldn't be too happy about this new arrival.

By the end of the hour she was done showing him around and he nodded and absorbed everything well enough.

'So why are ya here?' he asked her as they began walking to the cafeteria for lunch.

'I didn't really choose too…I kind of fell into it, because my ship wrecked here and we are looking for a few of our crew, but we kind of helped the Dharma, so they are letting us stay and look for out people,' she told him. She felt comfortable talking to him somehow. Things were easy.

'Are there more of your crew around?' Quinn asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.

'Yes, there is Miles, Jin…Daniel, he left for the main land a couple of weeks ago and James,' she answered him as they entered the cafeteria. 'And that would be them.'

She pointed out a table with the three assembled at it, eating sandwiches. The fact that she had incidentally opened up to James momentarily forgotten as she introduced them all to each other.

Miles asked Quinn some questions, who answered evenly and Jin just watched on. As for James, he wasn't exactly in his friendly mood. He may have noticed the few similarities and did not seem to like them either.

'So where ya from?' James asked Quinn before he took his last bite.

'Texas, been there all my life,' Quinn told him, there accent matching one another.

But in truth, Quinn's was deeper. Perhaps James hadn't been to the south for far too long.

James nodded in recognition and said goodbye to Quinn when the time came, his eyes lingering on Juliet for moment. He was scared of something; maybe it was losing her…to Quinn.

But he had never had her to begin with. Right?

'Oh, shit man. Shit,' Miles exclaimed once Juliet and Quinn were out of earshot. 'He is sooo like you man.'

James scowled at him. 'Fuck you Miles.'

'But I like you better, don't worry,' Miles teased. 'Wonder if Juliet does though…?'

'Ya wanna see what hell looks like, 'cause I sell one way tickets ya little turd,' James spat at him angrily for asking the same question he had been thinking during lunch.

Miles raised his hand in defense and shook his head. 'But seriously man, make your move on her, or that guy will,' Miles told him.

'Two things. Firs'ly I ain't got no moves to make; Juliet is my friend, our friend, and secondly, that guy ain't got a shot,' James told him, shaking his head, but frowning all the same.

What if she gave him a shot?

'Jim, get your head out of your ass. The jerk was staring at all the wrong places he shouldn't have when she wasn't talking to him,' Miles said seriously, frowning.

'Miles-right,' Jin agreed in the best manner that he could.

James looked from Miles to Jin and sighed gruffly. Hell, he had been the first to notice and it had taken all his gut not to punch the day lights out of the asshole.

Juliet was bad at her choices in men as far as he could guess. Like that Edmund bitch he'd seen her mention on that paper…and he guessed there was probably more jerks like him on her list.

He wanted to pay them all back…but he didn't even know any of them. He had an urge to protect her and the urge to keep her happy, make her happy, make her laugh. God, he loved her laugh, it was rare, but the best thing he'd ever heard.

Shit, he couldn't lose to this Quinn bastard. He couldn't watch her get hurt.

The washed their hands and Quinn thanked her for showing him around, smiling. She liked his smile, even though he didn't have dimples.

'I was also gonna ask you something else,' he slipped in smoothly. 'Well, tell me, if it's too early, but would you like to have dinner on Saturday night? I can cook a little…or you can come early an' help me cook somethin'…ya can cook right?'

She laughed a little. 'Yes, I'd love to come.'

'Well, then I'll see ya tomorrow,' he said, chuckling softly. 'G'night, Juliet.'

'Goodnight,' she said, parting ways with him and beginning the short walk to her own home. He was so charming and…comfortable. She liked him a lot. Yes, her mind told her to shut up the feeling and think about how fast this was moving. First day together and he asked her on a date?

It was the seventies.

He was flirting with her half way through the day!

It was just his sense of humor and she loved it.

Well, he seemed to get along with everyone.

Yes! He did!

She didn't even consider why. This was not like her at all, after all that had happened between her and men, she should be taking a few steps back and looking at the situation from a third objective, but fuck it, she was happier that day than she had been in a long time.

One date couldn't possibly hurt…right?

* * *

><p>Don't worry, it won't take too long beating up this Quinn guy...haha...but you can trust it won't be your average "James takes action", I promise it will be a good "ridding of"<p>

Anyway, enough of me spoiling stuff, thanks for reading and leave a review if you want to :) ...or don't, if you're not in the mood... :(


	6. The Stubborn Variable

He was making an effort and that was a pretty drastic step as far as he was concerned. But Juliet was worth it. She was more than worth it and he knew he'd do a lot more for her than tidy up the place and bribe Phil out of good whisky with the offer that he would take on Phil's shifts. In the next week he had a shift that would go for two days straight.

But he kept his mind on the night, on Juliet when she would be coming to his place and his tactics about how to change her mind about Quinn. He was exactly like Sawyer, which gave James an even stronger instinct to keep him away from Juliet. He had been there, hell, he had been that man.

Suddenly, however, the doorbell disrupted his thoughts and he scrambled to his feet, opening the door and smiling charmingly.

'Save it prince charming. She isn't coming tonight, I just ran into her,' Miles told him flatly, pushing past him and into the house.

'What! Where is she goin' then?'

'She got all quiet and told me she was meeting up with Quinn,' he answered, helping himself to beer from the fridge. 'She was wearing a nice dress too.'

James felt anger and jealousy flooding him, all together making an ominous mixture he did not quite understand. No, no, no, Juliet could not have possibly fallen into Quinn's trap. This was bad, real bad.

What would have Sawyer done? James asked himself discreetly; he would be trying to charm her to bed with him…and then, when he had nothing else to be fascinated by on her, he would leave.

It was like skipping the paper back novel and reading the last page. The tragic ending where Juliet came out a mess worse than the one she went in as. He had to stop it happening.

So, he asked Miles.

He was clueless.

Then, he asked Jin.

Jin told him to admit he loved her.

But he didn't love her…right? But he didn't have an answer to that. Maybe he did love her after all. This was ridiculous, he had never even gone out with her, or kissed her, but they had, had their rich conversations were they would talk about anything and everything…except their pasts, but maybe in time they would talk about that stuff too.

He discarded their ideas anyhow and was left with; 'beat the shit out of Quinn'

In that case he would stop the inevitable, but Juliet would never speak to him again. He didn't want that, he wanted –

'Hello? Jim? You're call,' Miles interrupted his thought looking at him straight in the eyes.

James jerked back and threw all his cards down on the table and rubbed his face. 'What if she leaves with him?'

'What do you mean?' Jin asked, his accent thick, but his eyes curious.

'I mean, he asks her to follow him to the mainland…and she does, but he ain't gonna stick around much…it might be con, but hell, non of us got money to pay him with…so it gets sticky,' James explained, yes, he knew all the nooks and crannies in the job. Conning people, women especially, was very much like math. You had your formulas, your X and Y's and you would apply them to different situation.

You, the X and the victim, the Y - with the odd variable or two, being the complications. In this case, James was going to make sure he was a damn good complication.

Miles let out a low whistle. 'Jim, I know he seems like a jerk and everything, but if you look at it realistically, he might actually be real. Not everything is a con.'

James frowned hard and shook his head. 'He barely knows her and he asked her out!'

'It's the seventies man, ease up a little, if it gets worse, get in there. I don't think it will last,' Miles informed him.

James scowled, hoping Miles was right, because if he wasn't, James was going to have some blood on his hands by the end of this.

* * *

><p>Miles was wrong…as Miles mostly was. Juliet went on a second date and that event was followed by a third date. After three came four and two weeks passed like this.<p>

Before long, Juliet and Quinn were quite the couple.

James meanwhile watched helplessly and observed all the classic con man moves in Quinn's pattern of behavior. No one saw this, but him. Least of all people; Juliet.

It was nearly the second week of Juliet's on-goings with Quinn. It was a Sunday, it was the perfect type of whether for a walk and James knew it was about time he took one to Juliet's house.

He knocked at her door and took half a step back, angry and frustrated as he waited for her to open the door.

'Hey…it's Jim right?'

Fuuuuccckkkkk, James thought as Quinn stared him in the face. He had not been so vengeful since the times his eyes bore into Anthony Cooper's.

That instance had ended with James strangling the man to death with chains. He thought a similar out come might follow if he didn't stop looking at Quinn soon.

Quinn was lean and charming. James could tell since he was only wearing a pair of boxers and he had noticed before, even when he had seen Quinn with his shirt on. This was not good.

James cleared his throat and nodded once, taking all his self-control not to strangle Quinn with chains. 'Is Juliet around?'

Quinn looked at him for a moment, his eyes sharp and shiny. Dangerous almost, but he eventually nodded and retreated into the house without a word. James continued to wait, his head pounding with a terrible headache.

He refused to believe that they…Quinn and Juliet…those two could _possibly _be sleeping together. But the truth was often ugly anyway. Maybe this was how Juliet felt when he came back from _being with _Bella that night about a fortnight ago.

'James, what's wrong?' Juliet came to the door nearly five minutes later, her hair falling down her back and her eyes bluer than he'd ever seen them. She looked rather amazing even in the messy and over-sized clothes she was wearing.

_Well, there is a LOT wrong…firstly, do you own a gun? And secondly, would you mind if I put a bullet in Quinn's head? Thirdly…ya look pretty._

'Ahem, no not really, but will you come for a walk with me?' he suggested. He hadn't talked to her alone since their false alarm with the "they are back" situation.

Juliet peered at him through her eyes with great surprise and glanced back inside the house, making James' ears roar, but she looked back at him again and nodded weakly. 'Hold on, I get my shoes.'

James nodded at this and tucked his hands into his pockets. He would hold on for a lifetime if it meant that she would go on a walk with him at some point. That thought startled him, as James did not even think he could call such deep affections for a woman. He hadn't before, so why start now?

She returned a few minutes later, her hair, tousled and still hanging by her shoulder, except now she wore sandals and a jacket was draped around her shoulders.

They began walking southward toward the dock, silent as they fell into step and left the usual footpath. Juliet drew her jacket tighter around herself and looked across at James, her breath fogging up in front of her face in the cold morning air.

'So…how are things?' she asked him quietly, suddenly aware of the fact that they hadn't spoken for weeks. She felt blood flood her face at the thought. She hadn't even thought of James for all that time.

She had missed him.

She sounded calm and almost at peace. He'd never heard her sound like this and perhaps it was because she had never been like this. For a moment James thought of letting it go, letting her be.

He shrugged and took a deep breath; he had half an hour before his shift begun. 'Nothin' much, haven't seen ya much.'

Juliet's blush darkened and she cleared her throat. 'Been busy.'

_Doing what? _James restrained himself despite what he wanted to say.

They fell into awkward silence and stared out at the water once they reached the dock, side by side. James trying to gather all his courage to tell her about Quinn and Juliet gathering up her courage to tell him about Quinn.

'We're moving in –.'

'Ya can't trust -.'

They both began at the same time, falling into silence again, their hearts thumping madly.

'You go first,' Juliet told him, unsmiling, sad almost.

James nodded and swallowed again. Fuck it! If it meant he could save her now, he didn't care what she thought of him. 'Ya can't trust Quinn,' he finally began.

Juliet fully turned to him, so that she was looking over his shoulder and at half of his profile, whilst he continued staring into the ocean. 'What are you talking about James?'

'I think…I think he is conning you, Quinn, his pre –.'

'Don't James! Just don't!' she snapped at him. Her eyes were cutting through the side of him, but he refused to look at her. 'I'm going to leave, on the sub in two weeks.'

He finally turned to her abruptly, his eyes widened with shock and a little hurt, but he hardly cared if she noticed. 'What?'

She bit her lower lip for a moment to stop it trembling and continued. 'We're leaving together. Quinn and I…there is nothing here for us.'

'No! No! Ya can't!' James protested. 'Ya hardly KNOW him!'

She shook her head, nostrils flaring and her eyes full of fire and water, blue, angry and shiny. 'I am NOT waiting anymore. I'm done waiting James! I'm almost halfway through my life and I have nothing to show for it! NOTHING!'

'What!' he spat. 'Do not do this Juliet, I'm warnin' ya, I know this asshole's ty-.'

She interrupted him yet again, but this time with a sharp slap, her hand meeting with the side of his face. 'No James, you are the asshole. If it's meant to be, it doesn't matter if it's two weeks or years…its happened and we've met! And we are leaving!' She spoke very quickly and softly, her words full of poison. She finally began to walk away from him and James shook it of and straightened up. He didn't care if she put a bullet in his leg for it, he had knock sense into her.

She was throwing away everything.

'What happened to ya! What happened to thinking it out?' he roared at her, holding her back by the elbow.

She snatched back her arm. 'You never knew me to begin with!'

'I know, ya aren't stupid enough to go through with this idiot. I know ya aren't this weak to give into this little game of his! I know ya are smarter than this!' He shot at her.

'I have news for you _Sawyer_, people get tired, people give up, people take fucking risks. I have nothing to lose! This is fucking it! So yeah, I give up, I am taking a risk, because I am so fucking tired of this island, of my life!' she snapped back, her heart racing and letting out all the feelings she had held inside her head for three years.

She began to walk away again, leaving him behind as she went, but James pushed on; _one last try._

'I'll fix it! Just stay, I promise I'll make it right for ya! We'll go home!' he was begging her openly now. James had never begged _anyone_. 'I got your back!'

She kept walking, but replied anyway. 'Yes James someone else made the same promise to me a while ago. I'm guessing you know his name.'

Finally he stopped, halfway down the path and watched her go home. He had to follow them to the main land. He wasn't done yet. He wanted to make sure he would be there to catch her if she fell. He had to protect her and it didn't matter at what expense it was anymore.

* * *

><p>She cried when she got home, but she never told Quinn why. She knew James was perfectly right, perfectly reasonable, but she was tired and sad. She was ready to stop being those things and take her chances with someone new. She still had enough strength to do that.<p>

She did not want think of the cons. Maybe if she concentrated on the pros enough, it would just work.

She tried to keep it perfectly mindless; act stupid. It was a way to get over all things going on in her, it was easier to push them under the bed than actually stop and sort them. In time, she hoped, they would all disintegrate. That Quinn would eventually take over all the problems and they would just be happy together.

Fuck everything else; she had never done something for herself.

Juliet chose to soldier on and James, she already knew, would give up at some point. He hardly cared about her enough. He hardly knew her. So he could do as he pleased and she would do as she pleased.

Whatever, whatever…whatever…

Yeah, she would let the water float her and she'd go with the current. Something good had to happen…right?

* * *

><p>Okay, so I enjoyed writing this a lot...OH the DRAMA in DHARMA! Anyway, the next chapter will be soon... Juliet won't end up with like Quinn or anything, because that will defeat the entire purpose of this story...<p>

Please review, or I kind of lose enthusiasm and just stop all together...

thanks for reading :)


	7. Pulverised

Quinn didn't like to read and he knew very little about literature all together, besides even if he did, half the books she knew he wouldn't recognize. Well, they hadn't been written yet. That bothered her about him, but he could do other things. He was quite the musician and he knew almost every song of by heart. He could dance too, so he taught her.

But nothing felt the same as the silence that was only interrupted by the rustling of pages.

Quinn was also good at drinking and he grinned in the dimmed lights as he handed her a glass of whiskey, grinning from ear to ear and his eyes half-lidded.

'So I'm guessing…ya…hate this place…' he asked her, his words slurred and his lips brushing her's, a week before they were to board the submarine.

Juliet looked into his eyes and felt nothing. She nodded and downed her drink in one. It didn't matter now, she was leaving and it was too late to change her mind even if she wanted. 'Yes, I hate this place, but you just got here Quinn, why are you leaving?'

He shrugged, 'I thought it would be good to have ssssome chan', buah, I guess it ain't workin'…well sept for ya. Got lucky there,' he told her smiling and kissing her.

She didn't smile back. She still felt nothing, but why? Hadn't she felt things the night before…and the night before that too? So why not on that night, it felt as though all her emotions had puttered out into nothing. Juliet ignored it and kissed him back with a deeper kiss, the mixture of alcohol and emotional emptiness, making her the worst type of reckless there was.

She had nothing. How much less than nothing could you have?

* * *

><p>The commune was silent in the dim morning light as he padded through it and finally reached the flame station. He crouched near the door and craned his neck around, looking at the dusty couches in the living room. Phil gave a loud snore and muttered something unintelligible in his sleep. James straightened up and walked inside, going straight to the computer.<p>

Quinn? Quinn what?

James clicked through the two Quinn's that inhabited Dharma, but none matched his wanted man. He was going under a different name and James felt his throat tighten at the thought, but he swallowed and began to plow through the new recruit's list. After filtering through all twelve, he finally found "Quinn" sitting at the bottom of the list.

Ryden Quinn Lloyd. He was probably just embarrassed by his first name…or that could all be fake too, making his name seem more real and therefore his character.

Been there done that, James thought as continued scrolling through Quinn's files. There was mechanic's degree, a few meaningless footnotes about his sedative dosage and a criminal record under fraud and indirect theft. He swallowed again and nodded once to himself. He'd give staying one last try, if she disregarded him even with proof, he would follow them, until he was proven wrong. He printed the files, hastening back to the dock and waiting at the far end, watching the submarine technician's getting ready for the trip back to Ann Arbor.

He sat down at one point, dozing in the heating day and waiting for Juliet to walk down the dock with a suitcase, maybe holding Quinn's hand, but maybe he wouldn't be.

It was nearly eight when the passengers began trickling onto the dock. Some of them couples about to have a child and others were either too old, or like Juliet and Quinn, detested the island. Finally the trickle slowed and James saw Quinn jog onto the dock, holding a satchel and nothing more.

Again the familiar roaring started in his ears, the anger and jealousy, coming alive with deep ferocity. It consumed him, and the truth was apparent without a moment's ado; Quinn _was not _worthy of her, con man or not. James was on his feet and treading down the small hill, before he even realized. He wanted to shout to stop him boarding, just so he could give him a little taste of pain, just vent his jealousy. He reached the dock to late, by then Quinn was halfway down the tube.

He had climbed in and the instructor closed the door behind him. He stood, panting slightly in the new sunlight, his chest rising and falling as the he watched the submarine submerge. However, a few moments later, he remembered that Juliet was supposed to be leaving on that sub.

James felt a sudden wave of sickness, what if he hadn't seen her get on? What if he had missed her?

It was either that, or that _she _had missed the submarine that began to cruse away. James swallowed and tucked the papers into his pocket. Ripping his gaze from the ripples on the water's surface he began jogging to Juliet. After a journey around the world he knocked and waited for her to answer, but when she didn't he began pound on the door; his heart in his throat, refusing to believe that he had missed her.

'JULIET! JULIET!' he shouted, shaking the door on its hinges. He kept going for another minute, until he remembered the key under the flowerpot outside. With shaking hands he tilted the pot and took the key, making the daffodils sway slightly.

He shoved the key in the door and rushed inside. He did not recognize the house anymore. There were clothes everywhere, and books lay dog-eared on most flat surfaces, none of them fully read, but messed with. Above all these things, there were lot of beer cans; they littered every corner and made the odd bottle or two of some sort of liquor standout. The kitchen was full of dirty plates and pans that were thickened with grease and muck.

'Shit,' James breathed his fear becoming confirmed and his head pounding again. This was bad, real fucking bad. He could see she had given up and surrendered to everything. She'd crumbled and he felt overpowering guilt that he hadn't been able to make her open up to him.

'Jules,' he called again, his voice cracking under pressure. James swung from door to door, looking inside every room.

'Oh God,' when he spoke again he didn't recognize his own voice and he was in the bedroom at the end of the hall. He felt relief beyond anything he had ever known and he sighed, taking it in and swallowing his heart again. She was fast asleep under the covers, dead to the world.

* * *

><p>She woke up to James shaking her shoulders and calling her name, peering into her eyes. 'James?' she asked, confused and ready to be angry with him again.<p>

'Yeah?' he finally stopped shaking her shoulders and his own sagged slightly in relief.

'What are you doing in here?' she asked, her voice sleepy and a yawn coming on too. She sat up against the headboard, drawing the blankets around herself.

He frowned deeply, angrily and she wasn't sure she had ever seen him this angry. Nothing bad was happening was it? Had something happened to Quinn? No, if it had, he would probably be celebrating, not looking angry. 'James?'

'The sub has left already.'

She felt the world grow faint and the bedroom spun around her in wild circles even though she was lying in bed. 'W-was he on it?'

James looked into her emotionless face and cold eyes and he wanted to shake her and scream at her. It was all right to be angry and hurt. It was okay to have emotions. It was okay to show how broken you were sometimes. He nodded weakly; wishing he could pretend Quinn hadn't left. Pretend he wasn't a jerk. Maybe if Quinn had left in a car and not a submarine, James would have stopped him and brought him back to her. It was no longer about what James felt for her, it was what he wanted her feel and not to feel. Not just towards him, but everything else. Herself too.

She didn't talk to him however. She swallowed hard and bit down hard on her lip, her teeth cutting into it and drawing blood. He watched as she took deep breaths and her eyes filled with tears, her hands shaking as she raised them as if to hold her ears, but didn't quite do so. Tears trickled down her cheeks before long, her eyes sparkling with pain, but that wasn't even scratching the surface.

'No, no, no…' she began whispering over and over again, more tears pouring down her cheeks.

James was lost, awkward and unsure. He'd rarely comforted anyone, because he had rarely cared for others' pain. _Big deal, _he would always think. _Your sad…try watching your daddy put a bullet in your mammas head and then his own. _

She hugged her knees, just to hold onto something and _his_ pain didn't matter any more.

James moved closer, giving her warning in case she wanted to pull away, but when she didn't, so he sat on the edge of the bed and put his arms around her. Unsteady and feeling more out of place than he had ever been around a woman. To Juliet it didn't seem to make a difference, she just went on sobbing her heart out.

'What happened?' James asked, even though he could see she was in no state to answer. He knew it was a bad move, because she just needed someone to sit around with her, but he wanted to take it out of her…and he thought that maybe by the end, she wouldn't be so sad any more.

She shook harder at this, the memories of the previous day coming back and haunting her.

* * *

><p>Yesterday:<p>

They had been drunk and she hoped that was an excuse good enough. It wasn't. She knew it wasn't, because she was never fully drunk, it was simply not physically possible for her.

She took a deep breath and sat at the edge of the bathtub, breathing in through her nose out of her mouth, her head spinning. She opened her eyes and looked at the stick again…yeah, it was the same as five minutes ago.

A positive.

She hadn't even given it a plausible possibility, but here she was. It was happening, but she still had a little hope. Just a little. The stick could be lying and she could be very much "not pregnant". These things weren't accurate point five percent of the time. This meant she was most likely screwed.

'Fuck,' she breathed, still not taking it as seriously as she should be. _YOU'RE HAVING A FUCKING KID! _Someone in her head screamed, but she didn't believe them. Her? Pregnant? …_Puh-leeez! _Not happening. Uh-uh. No way, hosey. If she was, this was bad, unless things in her life worked out for once…or didn't as usual.

Then there was the matter of Quinn. Sometimes, she'd love him, more than anything. Then there were the off days when she could not even recall _any _feelings for him, good or bad. It was fickle feeling she had and was not able to get rid of. It was almost as though she liked the idea of him; his physical forms, his language and his charm. Those things in him felt familiar as though she had known him for longer than a few weeks.

Where had she seen those characteristics?

She couldn't quite point it out any one immediate. That was weird, just the feeling actually, like stepping onto a stair, with the illusion its there, and in your head its there, but really, its not and you have a moment where you fall into a deep dark pothole.

Quinn was that stair…or pothole, but that didn't matter, whether she liked it or not, she could be pregnant. Most possibly was.

She told him the following night and he didn't look thrilled, but he seemed dazed. He was hard to point out with his feelings since he was so good at hiding them. He went to bed early, because he didn't know what else to do. She pretended he was shocked at the idea.

It was all pretence, but the living, breathing human inside her probably wasn't…or could be.

* * *

><p>She looked at James, devastated. Her emotions crushed. Scratch that, they were fucking pulverized, but he looked at her with large, awkward eyes, a melancholy beauty to them and she felt like she could see the world in them, the bad of it mostly. She looked closer and she could see herself in them, her hair flaccid, messy, perfectly destroyed, and her tank top white and worn. She was a complete mess, but she thought she liked this version of her reflection better than the one in the mirror.<p>

She didn't think she looked like she had a soul in a mirror any more.

Juliet burst into tears again, reality hitting home. No, hitting a home run. She stopped looking at him, embarrassed, one feeling she thought she would never have around _James _of all people. He was a filthy con man and he lived of other people like a parasite. She shouldn't be embarrassed, but she was.

At least he held her instead of saying "I told ya so". That, if anything, was a merit; she didn't want to hear a southern accent **ever** again.

* * *

><p>Okay, that was hopefully not too big of a "situation", but I know where I'm going next, however I'm kind of losing motivation, and it depends on the reviews I get weather I continue, so leave one if you want me to keep going, or don't if not...anyway, as usual, thank you for reading, it is very much appreciated :)<p>

R.F.A


	8. Little Humans

Well this is inappropriate. Why is James looking at her like that…oh my... he is a good kisser and his kissing her…that's how she can tell. She likes the feeling of his hair between her fingers and his large hands on her hips, his lips hard against her's.

The best part? They aren't on the island. She can see herself in his eyes and she's the girl she was before she met Edmund. Playful, happy and naïve, but that doesn't matter, because she knows James will be good to her. He won't run off. Mmmm Hhmmm, he will be there until they're wrinkly and old, in their own time, with a few cute grand kids.

They're outside a restaurant in the parking lot and her back is leaning into his old Ford mustang. It's a peeling red, and it's shining a little, reflecting the stars. He pulls back and looks at her, his face caught in a mixture of awe, lust and uncertainty. He looks younger and happier just like her.

'I love you,' he hums and she smiles back, because she knows he means it.

'I love you too,' she whispers back before kissing him.

He reaches under her dress and she can feel his hand on her thigh...

The worst part? She wakes up and its over. She's on the island. She's pregnant. She is screwed. James doesn't love her and she's almost forty.

F-O-R-T-Y! 40! But only almost.

What's this? Quinn has left? Well, that's no surprise. She was waiting for this to happen, she _knew _it would happen. She just didn't want to notice until it happened. It had been about being happy in the moment. Having a little fling she wouldn't care about if it were over sooner than a real relationship.

What the fuck? She wasn't planning on coming out of it pregnant!

Yeah, she was still crying, waiting for James to be an asshole and say, "I told ya so". She waits a few more minutes, but he doesn't say anything and she feels those arms she had dreamt of wrap around her firmly. She likes the feeling and leans back into him a little, her tears silently continuing, her head burrowed under his chin, her ear to his heart.

He was the only thing she liked just then, and she knew there should be red lights going off in her head, along with sirens, because, hey, she just got left behind and knocked up…by a MAN! But it doesn't matter, because they sit there for a while and their pain is mutual.

'Shit happens Jules,' he tells her quietly.

Yeah, no shit Sherlock, she thinks sarcastically. Shit, did just happen, BIG time. Suddenly her stomach is clutching and shifting gears like on an old car struggling to climb up hill, but rolling back. Juliet leaps out of bed and into the bathroom, throwing open the toilet bowl and retching.

_Get used to it, _she thinks.

* * *

><p>James barely has time to process what is happening when he hears her throwing up in the bathroom. She had either drunk too much the night before, or maybe she was stressed out.<p>

He had heard of stress vomit.

He shakes off the thought and goes to her, grabbing the towel of the rack and wetting it a little, then handing it to her. He holds back her hair, his fingers brushing her shoulder a little as he does so. She avoids his eyes and mutters her thanks; he can tell she's probably humiliated. He doesn't care, his too busy plotting how to kill Quinn.

Sorry, _Ryden_, not Quinn.

She leaned against the wall and her tears came without her consent. He joined her, his back against the wall beside her. 'James, I'm sorry I didn't listen to you.'

He didn't answer, because he didn't know how to answer, he thought of the papers hanging halfway out of his pocket and their contents. 'It don't matter, his gone. Don't have to bother yourself. Some prick…in the seventies, when we get back in our own time he'll be an old man…skin hanging off him.'

Juliet smiled ironically and sadly. This was pathetic. 'I can't,' she whispered.

Her voice broke and more tears poured down her cheeks, her shoulders shaking heavily. James gently pulled her into his arms, being the best friend he could be for her. The last thing he was thinking of was getting _in anything_…he was too curious and angry to think about her on that level just then.

'I can't,' she repeated, her hands shaking too in James' hold.

Why? Why couldn't she? He was gone wasn't he? He wouldn't be back, right? So why not? 'Why?'

She cried a little harder at this, unsure of how to word her situation. It couldn't get much more awkward than this, right?

'I'm pregnant.'

Right?

She moved away from him so that there was a foot's gap between them.

James felt the world stop turning for a moment as he registered the shock, his mind muddled and in even more pain than he was before. He was panicking. Why was he still here though? He should be getting the hell out of there. Isn't that what he had done when Cassidy had told him about Clementine?

_Hold on, this ain't my kid_, he calculated, lost between the past and the present and the feelings he was experiencing. He shook it off, thinking of the short time in which he'd be helping her out with her kid…but he didn't _have _to, right?

Stop, right, there! This wasn't his kid. Juliet was a friend. He could be getting the hell out of there. He didn't have obligations, Quinn did and he had run off, so why shouldn't James, friends come and go, so why shouldn't he when the idea of small human beings just terrified the shit out of him?

He had barely been a kid himself. He came off that cloud pretty quickly.

Well now, this was an awkward fix. James swallowed. 'Are ya sure?'

'I can't be until the sub comes back,' she answered quietly.

Why did it feel like they were discussing _their _problem when it was just _her's._

He nodded, _so there is a chance she isn't…_

What now?

'I haven't had breakfast yet…ya want some?' he asked, was that the right thing to say after traveling through time, meeting some one who made you go weird inside and when she got knocked up by some jerk you want to kill and then she threw up right in front of you?

He wasn't sure, but he stood up, pretending she hadn't disclosed that information to him.

'Do you have a shift?' she asked.

Yeah, a big one, but this is bigger, he thought. James shook his head at her instead. 'Nope. Let's go to my place.'

Right, he had remembered the destroyed kitchen and decided he wasn't in the mood for cleaning up. She wiped her tears and nodded once, soldiering on. Couldn't get any worse, but it could always get worse…so she decided not to think that again.

'I'll meet you there.'

He nodded back, his eyes full of confusion and turmoil. He turned and left her; stuck to the bathroom floor, this would be even worse once the Dharma folk got a whiff of it. It would be the biggest sort scandal these people would see.

These people might be hippies…but gossip was vicious through out the ages.

* * *

><p>She threw up again, then had a shower and stayed in there for as long as she thought she could make James wait. Shit, he was the only one besides Quinn who knew. She could only hope she had chosen the right person to tell. James didn't look like the type to talk anyway.<p>

She dressed in a jumper and track pants, and then took on the short walk to his place, keeping her head low, because she had a shift too. She knew James had lied. She thought it was sweet of him.

James opened the door for her, smiling a little and ushering her inside without a word. He'd toasted some bread and cooked eggs, put juice on the table and made some tea.

That's nice of him, she thought, discreetly remembering that wonderful dream she liked to have about him sometimes, but shook it off the thought of her situation making her feel wobbly on her feet.

They sat at the table still silent, James pretending to drink his tea, but it was still too hot and she could tell. 'Aren't you hungry?'

She nodded and took some toast, buttering it, but not eating yet. Thinking about the elephant in the room, but not mentioning it. She bit into her toast for some activity.

'This isn't workin'.'

'Absolutely.'

'Wanna go for a walk?'

She looked at him and felt sorry for him. He looked awkward and the seat suddenly seemed to shrink under him, his long legs folded under the table and hid hands holding onto his cup for deer life.

'No, let's just talk.'

'Okay, what are ya gonna do now?' he asked, pushing aside his feeling and treating the problem with a sort if calm only a camel on tranquilizer could.

She gave a sarcastic laugh and rolled her eyes at him. What did he think she was going to do?

James shook his head and leaned back. 'Right. What happens when people find out?'

She shrugged. 'I'm leaving with the next sub, they won't.'

Was it just her, or did this seem like a promise to herself that she kept post-poning.

'That's in five months.'

'Shit.'

'Yeah, shit's just abou' righ'.'

She shook her head and burrowed her hands in her arms on the table, refusing to let tears flow, but they came nonetheless. 'I can't stay anyway,' her muffled voice reached from the inside of a pit.

James reached out and touched her forearm, at a loss for what to do. Humans didn't have enough capacity to do this sort of shit did they? What would other people do? He'd never seen this one before. Not her part in it. His part. They were friends; he was running from commitment, she was looking for it. She had given up and he had the feeling that this time he might actually make it. Why were they friends again? He wasn't sure. What was he supposed to do?

'I have an idea,' he said quietly. DO. NOT. DO. IT. Large flashy signs began to swim around in his head. STOP! No, he could already tell he was going to do it. He was going to throw away his last chance to have that perfectly ignorant life full of money and chick's away. Was't that was he had strived for since his daddy went nuts? Well here it was.

And he was getting caught up with a pregnant chick. Yeah Sawyer, real smooth.

And what the hell would he do if Kate came back for him? But thinking a little harder, he did give a fuck what Kate thought, or would think.

_Ya are something special Blondie, _he thought, before sighing and continuing with this idea. This was going to be beyond awkward.

'Let's just let them think what they want to, just to make it a little easier until the next sub comes.'

She looked at him, 'What?'

James swallowed hard and rubbed his face. 'Let's just say that…you and Quinn broke up before he left…and nothing happened between you two.'

'But it did!' she half screamed. She would have sooner or later.

James remained calm. 'What if ya…are with me instead?'

Uh-uh, no fucking way, was he saying what she thought he was saying? 'So you…are Quinn?'

'No - yes…' his idea wasn't going down so well.

'And you would do that?'

He nodded. 'Until the next sub comes.'

He pretended he wasn't still having those weird feelings about her. Some might call it love, but he wasn't an idiot, but what else could it be, when he was offering to play the role of…the guy who knocked her up, but stayed around to see what happens next.

She sighed and stood up, her toast untouched. 'Thanks for breakfast James.'

He nodded understandingly, kind of relived, but what was this tugging disappointment doing at the pit of his stomach? He watched her leave and he shut the door behind her.

Awkward. Awkward. Awkward. And he was still trying to get his head around the fact that she was going to have a kid! He wasn't sure if they were taking it seriously enough. But what sort of attitude did anyone treat this with?

What "they"? It was _her_ problem.

But if she accepted his offer, "she" would become "they". He would be pledging to stick it out with her for a good five months at least. What the hell was he doing again?

He wasn't sure. Love maybe?

* * *

><p>Okay, thank you everyone for your reviews, they meant A LOT :) I wasn't sure how to treat the exact wordings, because that would be so awkward...but I hope I didn't stuff it up too much and it sounded genuine and like what the characters would actually do. I tried my best to empathise with their situation.<p>

Anyway, thanks for reading everyone :)

R.F.A


	9. The Boogieman

'Great! You didn't leave!' Miles met him at the star station, looking mildly happy and partly sarcastic, it was like he knew James wouldn't actually leave. The why, would probably remain a mystery.

James scowled at him.

'What? Juliet did?' Miles frowned lightly, but sarcasm wasn't a tone for him, it was almost like his accent.

'Na, that Quinn guy did,' James answered tiredly, taking the clipboard from Miles and filling out his form for his shift. Damn protocols.

'Wow, they broke up?' Miles was smiling lightly now, looking pleased…with something or rather.

'Na, he just left her, that fu-,' James began, but never finished, sudden realization dawning on him. Just because they didn't handle money any more it didn't mean it didn't exist out there in the real world.

If money hadn't existed in the seventies, he would probably be a stable and happy adult, not stuck on an island and not a crude, emotional cripple. Wow, he was a real train-wreck when you put it like _that._

'Did he come and talk to ya?' James asked, serious and one eye squinting more than the other as it did when he was speculating something big.

A surge of anger usually followed these squints. Miles knew as well as anyone around James and his grin crumbled and fell off; a dead thing in his sub conscious.

'Yeah.'

James waited for him to continue, but when he didn't he prompted him with a cutting look and a gentle quirk of his eyebrows, closing the meter between them by a foot.

'Ahem, he…well, he asked me about our "ship",' Miles began, his voice wracked with nerves. He wasn't even sure why himself. 'He asked about what we were doing before and I fed him the same crap about the Black Rock wreck.'

'Money? What did he ask about financial stuff?'

Miles frowned, suddenly confused and no longer scared. 'How do you know he asked about that?'

James raised both eyebrows in great surprise; he _hadn't_ known that, but he had been in the business long enough to guess. 'What did he ask? What did you say?'

'I said…I said we put our money together, most of our savings to make up for the ship we were going on. We were looking for some adventure, getting bored with our city lives, shit like that…' he trailed off once he saw James having some sort of break down.

James paced away from him, his head in his hands, his eyes large with anger and fear. He turned at the small boundaries of the room, like a wild animal in a cage. Untamed, but tortured and punished. He gave a mutilated shout mingled with a scream and abruptly took hold of Miles.

He pawed at Miles with his large hands, gathering the front of his jumpsuit and ramming him back into the wall with force. His breathing was heavy and Miles immediately felt fear. A dark liquid lapping at the sides of his feet, threatening to take over.

'You DUMBASS! Son. Of. A. BITCH! You told him we were broke! You told him, SHE was broke!' James shouted pumping his fists into Miles' scrawny frame with every word. He knew it wasn't Miles' fault. It had even been better that Miles had stopped Quinn from taking her back in a way. That would make things worse. If he left her in the middle of nowhere, that would be right mess.

So why wasn't James thanking Miles?

Miles slipped out of his lumbering hands at his first chance. 'WHY?' he shouted, holding a hand out when James began to come for him again.

That's right, James was an emotional cripple for now.

'He was conning her! He was a fucking CON MAN!' James shouted slamming his hands on the control panel hard. 'He was looking for money. The entire time! AND _I_ SAW IT! _I_ KNEW IT!'

Miles stared at him, his glare softening slightly. 'Its not your fault…she wouldn't listen.'

James' head snapped up and his eyes cut into Miles'. 'I shouldn't have told her! I should've killed the asshole. SHOULD'VE stopped it!'

Miles still didn't understand why James was so angered by this. Juliet would get over Quinn soon enough it was a fling and James was a friend. He had no responsibility to do anything. He hadn't failed anything.

He had no obligations.

'Enjoy your shift,' Miles shot at him, rubbing his bruising neck and beginning to take his leave. If James was messed up, there was no helping that. Let him be.

* * *

><p>James is scared of spiders. James is scared of the dark. James is scared of the boogieman. So why is momma telling him to get under the bed? She knows he hates it doesn't she? So why?<p>

'I love you,' she whispers to him, giving him a tight embrace, before ushering him under the bed.

_But I don't wanna go under the bed, _James thinks as he is propelled forward on his band-aided knee. It stings and he cringes in pain, but his too nervous to make any noise. He hates going under the bed! But he can feel something bad is happening. Something terrible is going to happen and he retreats further into the wallowing darkness as shouts waft up from the stairs.

He stays very still on his elbows and knees, like when he and his cousins play commando and hide and seek. He wonders when they'll come down to their place again to play.

POP! BANG!

He startles and jumps, landing hard on his forearms and tears gathering in his eyes, making it hard to see. That doesn't mean he can't see the sharp jag of light cutting across the room as the door is opened. That doesn't mean he doesn't see the worn leather boots as they approach the bed.

James lays lower as the bed screams in agony and approaches him from above, threatening to crush him. He thinks of the boogieman and his spider friends hiding in the funnels of the bed, ready to eat him if his under it, but scared of him if his on it.

He wants to get _on _the bed…but his daddy's sitting there.

POP! BANG!

The bed violently lunges down at him and shivers for a moment, the boogieman wails and moans above him, echoing in the shadows of his mind.

James can't hear anything, but a piercing silence spiking into his ears and seeping into him. It hurts to have ears for a few minutes, before sirens take it up. His heart starts up again and he thinks of the sound cowboys with guns make, but he can't quiet process the image of his daddy as the highway gang leader and his mamma the bitch who owned the highway gang leader.

He crawls out from under the bed oblivious to his own fragmented life, his tears all for the pain shooting through his bones. He can feel a lump in his throat as he crawls out through a curtain of his daddy's legs and doesn't look back. He runs, bare-footed and unstable. As he skids around the corner and reaches the stairs he sees a limp figure on the floorboard, but its too dark to see much. James just sees the boogieman and he flees past, slipping on a thick, sticky liquid as he goes, falling down the stairs.

Falling, falling and falling. The fall never ending. His feet sticky with the boogieman's goo and his elbows and knees on fire.

Somewhere in his fall he grew up and he knew it was his fault for acting like a kid. For being scared. He should've protected her or at least been with her instead of cowering under the bed. So, that was then and he could be excused for an eight year old with knobby knees and irrational thoughts...but Juliet? He could've protected her from Quinn, he should've.

He should've fought Quinn properly and held him away.

Why was his damn life filled with these reoccurring nightmares he could never stop in time?

'Jim! Jim!' James' eyes fluttered open and he swallowed, rising out of his clearest memory and dream. He looked at eyes covered by glasses for a long minute, before remembering what followed that nightmarish night.

'H?' ha, if he could get fired, this would probably be it.

'Jim, we have a problem, three of our guys are caught out of the perimeter, they're being chased by that…that…THING! They need help!' Horace obviously has no time for lectures; sweat thick on his brow and his hair tangled and messier than it usually was.

James jumps to his feet, his knees weak for a long second. He eventually gathered himself and followed Horace through the sun split commune and into a hippie van at the motor pool.

Thank God Quinn wasn't around.

Where was Juliet though? She liked her job.

He didn't have time to worry. He had a real boogieman to deal with now.

* * *

><p>She ate when she got home, thank you very much (James). Things after that took a slightly better definition and she was able to look around and assess her destroyed life with a little more realism.<p>

Therefore, she was still fucked.

Juliet stood at the window and took a deep breath. Okay, so…so now, she waited until the submarine came back and she would get more test (all of them) and try out again.

She took a deep swing of her "OJ". Okay, so maybe she couldn't wait…wait…wait…

Fuck waiting.

She changed again into something a little less shabby and left the house, determined to go through with the blood test. She just had to know. Juliet made it without too much damage and by the time she entered the cooled and white infirmary it was just about one in the afternoon. She waited for the doctor at the reception area, not willing to wait much longer than a few seconds, when…

'Oh, hello Juliet,' Bella's half-lidded eyes met Juliet's vibrant blue ones…and world war three was about to commence. Bella's tone was asking for it and Juliet was purposively pregnant, so she couldn't quite control her actions. Not that she wanted to anyway.

Juliet swallowed however and took a deep breath to calm her self. 'I'm looking for the Doctor…'

'He has gone out for an emergency…don't know what though, he just rushed off…' Bella told her, flicking back her long ponytail. Hmmm, just one pull would even be satisfying, Juliet thought.

'So, any nurses around?'

'Well, I'm a nurse in training and I can do most of your basic stuff…' Bella answered proudly. 'You know, I'm studying to get a _real _degree.'

_You are a stain on all branches of the medical profession. _'Can you do blood tests?'

Bella nodded off-handedly, looking partly offended at the thought that Juliet was underestimating her. 'Come on, I'll get it done in a sec.'

Juliet followed her, her temper firing up. She wasn't even _that _angry with Bella, she already knew she just needed somewhere to pump out frustrations about Quinn and a possibility of becoming a single mum in nine months.

She could start venting by being a bitch to Bella.

Juliet observed as Bella went through the procedure of taking blood, getting the what-not's ready and cleansing, then numbing the veins on the reverse side of Juliet's elbow. She smiled at Juliet artificially as she inserted the needle and flicked the tube for a moment.

'So…why is it you need this blood test?'

Juliet leaned back into the chair a little. Should she? Should she?

'I took the pregnancy test, but I just want to make sure, because they aren't always that accurate. James and I just want to be sure,' Juliet told Bella calmly as if passing on salon gossip.

Well, he _had _offered and she never said James was…_it _anyway.

Suddenly she felt the syringe pulled out of her skin, making it sting badly. Juliet cringed a little and waited until she got a band-aid on, not looking up at Bella for the entire time so she could hide the tears from her.

When she did look up, she wanted to start laughing. Bella's lips were pressed into a thin line and her eyes were dark with malice. She seemed at the verge of tears and a scream at the same time.

'We'll send you the results.'

'Thanks,' Juliet smiled lightly and left, feeling a lot lighter.

Well, it would probably be out everywhere that she and James were going out, and that she and Quinn never did. She wondered what James would think, but she figured it didn't matter much since he had made the offer.

Suddenly however her thoughts were interrupted by a speeding vans screeching to a stop a few feet from her. She watched in stunned silence as Horace pulled open the door and with the help of Miles pulled James out of the van, his leg bloodied and torn.

She was at his side before she even knew. 'James! …What happened?'

Horace, however, was too busy panting.

* * *

><p>Alright, this took a very long time to figure out and I wasn't really sure...but hopefully I didn't kill it too much. Anyway, review etc etc :)<p>

Thanks for reading


	10. Where For Art Thou Tooth Romeo?

_Two Hours Earlier_

If he had children, he would be signing of his will…hold on…if he had money he could have a will in the first place.

James wasn't very sure either way. He was too busy running away from smoke. Running from black billowing smoke that clanked and clicked a trail of destruction behind him. Sweat ran the length of his neck and blurred his vision as he saw the outline of the tree thinning…and could it be…

Mmmm, hmmm, that sonic fence of theirs with the entire security team cheering for him on the reverse side, on the safe side. The made frantic arm movements at him and screamed things James couldn't quite decipher.

Twenty feet left and James felt he was almost there, running for a touch down on the home coming game.

Just kidding, he was juvie during the homecoming game, which was a shame since he had been the quarterback.

He made it, leaping a little to get over the fence, and in mid air he could hear victory raids and the national anthem going of somewhere in his head. Yeah, damn right he'd survived the smoke shit!

POP! BANG!

He never landed his joyful victory leap. Instead he came down hard on his heel a sword running through his thigh. He was on his face before he even realized he was shot.

'What the fuck! What's wrong with you dip-shit!' yes, how intelligent, swearing, and such a wide vocabulary too…it could only be Miles, or James himself.

James' mouth was filled with blood and mud; therefore it could only be Miles.

'You shot him!'

'No! I didn't!' the ignorant prick who had shot him squawked, his voice thin, then thick, then thin and thick…

'Screw you Phil!'

James slowly pushed himself onto his back, his teeth clenched and air whistling through them as he struggled to take a deep breath. _Must kill Phil._

Funny how appropriately some matching things rhymed.

'Jim, hey Jim!' Miles face was above him a second later. 'Nice run.'

'Tell-tell me I ain't shot.'

'You aren't shot,' Miles said, grinning.

James wondered what was funny about the situation.

'Really?'

'Na, man, just saying what the boss told me to,' Miles retorted, smiling like an idiot.

James hissed in pain his jaw clenching and the corners of his vision curling in and turning black. 'Kill Phil…and yourself…'

'Hold on Jim, we'll get you to the infirmary soon!' great, it was Horace…he was in safe hands. The last thing he felt was the end of Horace side pony-tale tickling his nose.

Maybe he should join Juliet on that sub before he grows one too…

* * *

><p>She's holding his hand and barely listening when they tell her it's just a flesh wound. Screw this, and the doctor. James is bleeding, flesh wound or a bloody nose. He is bleeding, therefore losing energy; therefore fading and making her heart beat that little faster and making crazy possibilities run through her mind. What if he dies? What if he goes into a coma?<p>

Juliet bites her tongue even though she isn't saying it out loud. Is she?

She looks at the doctor cleaning up the wound and beginning to stitch it up, his gloves bloodied and his eyes sharp behind his thick glasses looking as if he was changing a tire on a car.

Just another day at work. Sigh, how does he do it? More importantly, how did she do it knowing she was going to fail every single time? Juliet felt a sudden wrenching motion in her stomach, she felt guilt. She had known they were dead before doing surgery on them, how did she? True, they would have died anyway, but every breath counted…every glance at the world, or the one they loved.

Every breath mattered and as she watched the doctor bandage James' thigh she formulated a plan. She could have rounded them all up, sabotaged a submarine and got them to safety, but nooo, Rachel had been more important. She had wanted Rachel to live for her. Solely so she could still have her bigger sister. She bit back tears.

Honestly, _this _was James' time, for now she could worry about him, instead of time travel, pregnant women and Rachel, who was a pregnant woman…or would be…or had been…

'Done, he'll be fine to leave tomorrow morning and I will leave you the medications for him,' the doctor told her. 'He should wake up in an hour or two.'

Is that it?

'Erm, do you know how he got shot?'

The Doctor shrugged. 'All I know is the bullet went through and how to fix it.'

'Thank you.'

The doctor nodded, taking of his glasses and rubbing his eyes, then moving away in a state of dreams. He looked kind of high anyway. Juliet finally turned to James, he looked fine, peaceful really.

'Juliet?' Miles actually sounded little less sarcastic than usual.

'What happened?' she asked him, curiosity eating away at her.

'Well, we got a call for the smoke monster, because it had cornered Phil and a few of the other guys. James here goes in to grab them and round them up, but he ends up being chased,' Miles began his voice casual and a matter of fact. He sounded as though he was delivering a news report. 'So James is twenty feet from the sonic fence to make it back and the smoke is behind him, we turned it on as soon as he made it, but Phil, that asshole, he freaks and thinks the smoke is going to get in and he shoot James, because he missed.'

Juliet arched her eyebrows, her hand reaching for James' behind her back. She didn't feel sorry for him, but rather felt the inconvenience and his pain. She'd never been shot, but she had heard it was like being pierced with a hot poker…well she'd been down that alley in her time.

Suddenly however Miles burst out laughing, his laugh a dry barking more than anything else. He laughed until tears were shining in his eyes brightly and he was bending over, hands on knees, crumbling with silent amusement.

Juliet just frowned at him. Yep, he had _finally _lost it. They had always suspected that he was loopy, but this…this was a little beyond loopy. Their friend had just been shot and lying in an infirmary and Miles was _laughing. _

'What?' she finally snapped, unable to stand his guffawing any longer.

'He-he-ha…James chipped his tooth,' Miles finally panted, hands on his knees.

'What?' she asked again numbly. Shit, they better have dentists on crap hole-island, or James' looks were going to take a real fall.

'Check if you want to,' Miles told her, still grinning and his eyes alight with play.

Juliet bit her lower lip, thinking it over. She looked from James to Miles as though it was a tennis match. Finally she gave a frustrated growl and turned to James. Looking down at him sleeping peacefully for a moment. She gently reached and raised his upper lips looking at his front teeth.

'Shit,' she breathed, laughing a little. Miles was right. It was a small chip, in fact at a distance you wouldn't even notice. Still, a physical imperfection in James was a physical imperfection. She began laughing too, just as Miles had, first chuckling, but soon guffawing.

'Poor thing, all he had going for him were those looks…and teeth,' Miles tutted, straightening up and holding his head higher. 'Unlike me here ... class, looks and brilliance.'

Juliet looked down at James again, smiling lightly and jokng, 'No…I think its cute and nothing a good dentist can't fix. Sorry, I'd still go with James.'

Miles raised his eyebrows and showed her his best "shit eater" grin. _Ha! That's not a joke. _'Right…I have a feeling you like him.'

Juliet tore her gaze away from James peaceful face before she could fall into any emotional capacities and glared at Miles. 'Thank you for the insightful trip to junior high.'

Miles nodded and smirked and nodded. 'No, thee guesses that thou have fallen for Romeo over yonder on thy infirmary bedding ...'

Juliet blushed slightly, remembering her dream where they'd both particularly were in junior high. 'Fuck off Shakespeare,' she snapped at him.

Yep, that did the trick.

'Erm, want to get some lunch? I haven't eaten yet,' Miles said, non-smiling and non-sarcastic for once, taken aback by having heard her swear. In his books, Juliet did not swear.

Juliet arched an eyebrow. Why did men always get her out of a bad conversation with a food interruption? Were they trying to say something to her?

She began to shake her head, lunch with no secret meaning, or many, she was staying with James.

'Come on Jules. He is a big boy and you wouldn't want to be there when he finds out he wasn't sleeping beauty all this time,' Miles prompted. Tempting ... tempting, but James would stay with her if she got shot and besides, she liked seeing him sleep. He didn't look so defensive with his eye closed.

Oh-Kaaaay, that was a little more than "a bit" pedophilic.

'Hello? Miles to Juliet land?'

'Erm…you go ahead, I'll just get some fresh air and come back to him. Don't want him to panic when he finds out he has chipped a tooth,' Juliet told him, nodding.

'Ahhh, Romeo, Romeo, where for art thou tooth Romeo?' Miles acted out as though he was a fair dame on a balcony, fluttering out of the room and leaving Juliet with more than just a little urge to strangle him with her bare hands. He was just the most infuriating man she had ever come across! After James of course, no one beat James at the game of "strangle me to death because I am so damn annoying!"

She took a deep breath and gave his hand one last squeeze, getting an imaginary squeeze back, because any real affection that James showed for her must be some sort of illusion.

_Any _sort of affection that _any _man showed her must be an illusion.

She let go and left the room at a brisk pace; finally able to calm down. Just a freaking flesh wound, he didn't lose a leg or anything! Get a grip woman!

She stepped outside gulping down the fresh afternoon air. The commune toasted in the hot, gold hush of the sun.

'Juliet?'

_Get out of my face. Out! Out! _Juliet snapped inwardly as Bella came out after her, examining her face. She was going to kill her if she even heard as much as an indication of James. She did not want to have guide James through another "woman episode". As though the time he'd seen Kate from the past hadn't been worse enough.

But she had known how he felt. She hadn't exactly been comforting him. It was guiding, truly, guiding him out of his misery and self-hate.

'Yes?' Juliet answered smiling good-naturedly. Damn, she should have gone into the acting business.

'Your blood test will be back by tomorrow,' Bella told her.

'Great.' STOP. TALKING. TO. ME. NOW.

'I'm sorry about James, heard what happened,' Bella told her a couple feet away…close enough to be strangled anyhow.

Juliet took a deep breath and nodded. Okay, so she's concerned for him that wasn't a crime. It's okay. James is allowed to have a girlfriend if he wants to. Or two, if that floats his boat. Whatever, _she_, _Juliet_ wasn't going out with him. So why was she feeling jealous?

Oh, wow, she'd never admitted to jealousy before. _First for everything, _she told herself, her stomach swooping at the realization that she could soon be having her first kid.

'Thank you, it was just a flesh wound, his fine now,' Juliet answered, don't mention the tooth, don't do it, he'd never forgive her if she did anyway.

'I mean it was very brave of him, but I think Phil did the right thing. He was really brave too,' Bella told her, looking out over the commune and flicking her ponytail in Juliet's direction.

_No, he just can't shoot straight for his life, that's why! _Juliet retorted.

Did Juliet mention Phil was now on her hit list…next to Bella? She did not reply, holding back her tongue as well as her arms and feet.

'Jim was leading that thing to them…it was lucky they turned it on in time…but I guess it wouldn't have mattered, Phil would have shot him down before he brought the thing into the commune…the blacky thing would have been happy with just James…I mean how many would heh–.'

Bella is knocked back into the wall, her mouth open in the form of a large 'O'. Her fingers wet with crimson blood that's dribbling down her chin.

Juliet took a deep breath and half a step closer to her. 'Don't you dare,' she hissed her eyes dark, but cutting at the same time. She knew Bella was this doing because of jealousy.

That didn't make sense. Wasn't Juliet also partly doing his because of jealousy and because she couldn't stand anyone saying James _deserved_ to be shot?

Bella slid out of the situation and gave Juliet a bad look. The look that said "I'll get back to you soon". The look that made Juliet wish she hadn't punched Bella as hard as she had. Or had kept her fist to herself altogether, but man, when she was offended, she was offended and she couldn't control all of her violent tendencies when she was offended!

She blamed it on Ben. It was easier than sorting it out psychologically.

She blamed a lot of things on that bug-eyed weirdo.

* * *

><p>Thank you all for your kind reviews, this chapter is slightly late, but I had so many deadlines. I HATE deadlines. Cross them and your dead. That why they call them dead lines...<p>

Anyway, so much for this being fanfiction...so review again and tell me anything you feel can make this better. Also, I will be truthful, I had a plan about her pregnancy before, but after all the opinions and reviews I am not sure what to do...so I guess I might count it down to majority rules...so you can leave a review about what you might like to happen if you haven't...or leave another, they always make my day...

Okay, enough of me now. Thank you very much for reading. :)


	11. Deeply Shallow

He parted his lips and pressed his front teeth down…what was left of them anyway! James ran his tongue over the chipped edge and leaned in closer to the mirror. He gave a frustrated growl and looked at from any other angle he possibly could.

'You know it's not bad, I can barely see it,' Juliet told him, entering the bathroom.

James abruptly shut his mouth and grabbed his crutches from where he'd left them against the wall. He gave her an incredulous look. A _mutely_ incredulous look.

'I was wondering what it would take to shut you up,' she laughed following him back to the infirmary room where she had waited for him to wake up for the past four hours.

James just threw her a frustrated look, mumbling something without opening his mouth.

Juliet smiled lightly. 'Okay…sure, what are you going to do with Phil?'

James looked as though he was running out of oxygen with his mouth shut. 'Son of a bitch!'

'I win,' she laughed. 'I can't see it, it's not even a real chip…more like a graze.'

James rolled his eyes and leaned back pulling his leg up and wincing at the pain that shot through it. Juliet winced too, but by the time she came to help him he had completed the petty task on his own. 'Sweetheart, I'm done with women ya realize?'

Juliet raised her eyebrows. 'What do I look like to you?'

'No,' he shot at her, a little too quickly and eagerly. 'Nah…just not that type of woman…ya know?'

'You mean dumb?' she asked.

'Kind of.'

'Easy?'

'More like it…'

'Bella?'

James raised his eyebrows. _How the hell does she know? _'Bingo.'

Juliet gave a frustrated growl. 'Don't worry, she probably lost a tooth too, you two will match perfectly.'

She began to walk away out of the room. _No, she was not jealous for a man that shallow! She refused to be used again! Was it always this hard to be a fucking woman?_

She heard him scarpering, James trying to reach for his crutched. She bit her lip and forbid herself to turn back around for him.

But there went the cutest pile of bricks there ever was, smack bang on the ground of the infirmary. She heard a small yell of surprise cut short by his pride.

Finally she turned and went to him, pulling his arm over her shoulder and helping him onto the bed.

'Guess I still got somethin' that ya can't walk away from,' he laughed, masking the pain that was etched in his brow.

She hummed in answer, still cross with him. _Pfft, puh-leeez, as if she could walk away now. _

'Okay…why did Bella lose a tooth?' he asked, frowning in confusion.

She squirmed under the spotlight. 'I…sort of made her lose a tooth.'

James neck jerked back, raising both eyebrows as high as they would go. 'What?'

Juliet let out a deep breath. 'I had a blood test today…and she did it for me, and…I took your offer and told her we're together…then she started bitching about you…so I just…you know…punched her.'

James stared at her for a moment, and then smiled (without teeth). 'W-hell! I didn't know she was a Doctor.'

Juliet sagged a visible meter, 'She is not a Doctor!' Was he listening? It was like trying to tell a ten year old he was grounded. Except James was grounded to her instead of the ground now…so he was sort of "Julieted".

_Which is probably worse than being grounded, _Juliet added frowning.

'You deserve that tooth!' she snapped at him and James immediately stopped smiling and arched an eyebrow.

'C'mon, good, ya took the offer.'

She felt her forehead beginning to ache…they had to find some other means of showing surprise, this shit was getting old on the island. Maybe from now on anyone who came on the island should carry around posters with feelings names on him or her.

"SURPRISED"

"UPSET"

"DESPERATE"

"ANGRY"

"VERY ANGRY"

"I AM ABOUT TO PUNCH YOU"

'Juliet? Hello?'

'Yeah?' she contacted him, shaking of the thought.

'I made the offer…and it stands 'cause I'm helping ya out whether you like it or not,' he told her seriously, his eyebrows where they belonged "thank you very much!"

She blushed, or thought she did, she had never quite figured how it felt to blush. She only could concentrate on her stupid flash cards.

"AWKWARD, VERY AWKWARD."

'Thank you James…This means a lot,' she answered, moving a little closer, she kissed him on the cheek…

But she didn't, he turned at precisely the wrong moment and his lips met her's.

They were caught for a moment, in surprise, but they needed an excuse. Okay, so maybe her dreams weren't that far off and he _was _kissing her back.

Wait, what?

She pulled back suddenly. No, no kissing! Kissing would risk emotional attachment. NO, emotional attachment.

'I'm gonna goodnight now because its getting great…late…its getting late!' Juliet defended walking backward slowly and frowning and nodding to herself. 'Lot's of work…cooking, you know, that damn kitchen never stops moving.'

James thought back to the kitchen he'd seen that morning, cups literally drowning in plates. _Ah, yeah Jules, it does, _he thought, but was happy to let her excuse pass, as much as he'd like her to stay for more talking.

Yeah, more talking. No kissing. He could risk complicating it with her.

'Yeah, g'nigh',' he called after her when he found his tongue. Speaking of which, he immediately began to roll it over his tooth.

He was going to murder Phil.

* * *

><p>There was no post in Dharmaville, but they had a post-office, which was just a little of the rec room where they kept all the fun things they couldn't afford for everyone to have. Juliet left the house and began toward the rec room, her palms sweaty and her heart beating heavily. This was it; this was the moment where the next eighteen years of her life were chosen.<p>

Unless her kid decided to stay for longer than that…

She hadn't seen James since their encounter the previous night, but the strange thing was she was not thinking about that night. It was the past she was thinking about, James from the past. That was weird if anything, because as far as she knew James was never really in her past. He was the freshest news.

He was her now.

She finally reached their hidey-hole post office and tried her best to sound fine as she asked for her mail…and the daily coconut as a side. Mike, as his name badge indicated, handed her a relatively swollen envelope and wished her good day. She didn't really listen to him though, she snatched the paper out of his hand and turned for the door at a partial sprint.

'Juliet?'

Why, oh why must James be so damn amazing even on crutches? Not to mention incredibly sweet.

'Yeah James, I haven't changed my name.'

He nodded quietly, his eyes locked on the envelope in her hand. 'Is that-?'

'Yes.'

'Can I come i-.'

'No.'

He nodded again. 'I'll jus wait 'ere,' he finalized and began to take a seat on the porch seats.

Juliet however stopped in her mad rush to open the door and lay a hand on his shoulder. 'Thank you.'

James smiled lightly and nodded. 'Take your time, I got a month off work.'

She nodded back at him and entered the house without further ado. She leaned against the door and ripped open the envelope, plowing through all the unnecessary clutter that blood tests came with.

Positive. Positive and very pregnant, well there went her next eighteen years.

Or more.

She dropped everything and buried her face in her hands, her tears coming fast. There was no defying a blood test.

Nothing. Defied. A. Blood. Test. If there was one thing that stuck in medical school easily, it was that.

Her shoulders shook badly and she gulped in air, but the world was spinning. Yes, she wanted damn children, but the right man to raise them with had never come along…so now she was stuck, but as a person who helped women have kids and saw how difficult it was sometimes, this was an awful thing to say.

She opened the door again and she found James nearly toe to toe with her. 'It happened,' she told him shrugging, but she smiled through the tears looking away and covering her mouth with a hand.

James pushed inside and closed the door behind her on one crutch, having discarded the other on the porch. He leaned against the door slightly and pulled her into a tight one-armed embrace, his cheek against her ear.

He could hear her cracking slowly and he felt as though she would fall through, like a layer of thin ice early on in winter. He refused to let her drown though.

So he was jumping into it with her.

'Sshh, its 'kay, we got this, we got this,' he assured her the best he could.

What the hell was he doing though? Wasn't all this coming out a few months too late? Why hadn't this happened when he was in prison, but it wasn't that past he was _feeling. _It was some other time before…this, felt familiar. Some other time with a girl he'd loved. The comfort he had tried to offer.

Come to think of it, it was his first time in love, ever. Before Kate, he'd loved her more than Kate. He'd loved her more than Cassidy… But why was it that he could not recall her face? That familiarity.

Instead, he just saw Juliet standing in front of him and that was another lifetime he was thinking of…

She kept her chin on his shoulder and James could slowly feel her tears soaking through the back of his shirt. 'We can get through this, I'll be here for as long as it takes.'

Juliet however was shaking her head. 'No, you won't. No one has, no one does…no one ever will.'

James frowned at this and held her closer. 'Yeah, well, there's a first for everythin' sunshine.'

_No you did not just say that!…eighteen damn years man! That' how long your sticking around_…but who said James had to keep the promise? No one said he had stick out through the course of the kid's home life…

He couldn't afford to become emotionally invested, but he felt her breathing against him, her chest steadily rising and falling and her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. He could feel what she felt almost.

Finally they pulled away and James wiped her tears. 'No crying, I don't do crying. We stick it out…together,' he whispered, but he was in pain just making these promises, because he knew he could never do anything to hurt her. He could never break them. It was like engraving his words in stone.

At the same time, however, it felt nice to be bound to something. To be bound to her. Who said a good thing couldn't come out of a bad one.

She nodded and buried her face in his chest. What the hell did they think they were doing?

* * *

><p>Well, he'd kept his promise for a week so far, but she seriously doubted it would last any longer. She hoped it would and she wanted it to, but really…this was Sawyer Ford she was dealing with. She thought as she attempted to watch him walk without his crutches. He would probably walk of as soon as the dentist fixed his tooth in the following week, or whenever he could score some one like Bella and leave Juliet embarrassed as all the men before him had.<p>

The dream would end sooner or later, when ever Kate decided to rolly-polly back onto stage.

'Okay, ready? Watch,' James told her, wobbling toward her, trying to put his leg to work.

'James, you don't need to prove anything, it was just a week ago…does it hurt?' she asked watching him wince slightly. It looked very painful.

'No,' he lied, his voice a couple of note higher than usual.

She laughed a little. 'Well, obviously it doesn't, judging from your calm.'

James rolled his eyes and fell back on the couch beside her. 'Don't wanna get on my bad side grease monkey.'

She just shook her head and grinned. 'What bad side?'

'Ya know I still got one.'

Suddenly she felt as if she was hit by an on coming wave of _stuff_. She was dazed, memories pulsating through her. Memories that James was brining back. His smile…and his smell, his voice.

'James?'

He looked back at her, the similar things circulating his train of thought. 'Where were you in nineteen-eighty-six,' he told her staring deep into her eyes.

'Summer of?' she asked, moving back slightly.

'I think so…'

'Shit.'

'Yeah, shit,' he answered nodding. 'Juliet? I think I…'

'-know you,' she finished for him, her heart racing in her throat.

This must be some twist of fate.

* * *

><p>Alright, thank you for your input and yes, I took it into consideration all your lovely reviews and decided that I will use my original plan of action...anyway, this <em>is <em>lost, so _anything _can happen and it still can change... ;)

Okay, review, tell me how you felt about it...and if you want you can leave ideas, even though I got some good stuff planned for the next few chapters...

Thanks for reading,

R.F.A


	12. Mutual Summer

So this was weird. They hadn't realized how weird it actually was for all this time. That was the really weird part…but it was explainable.

Explanations, however, were not what they were looking for at that moment.

Juliet stood up, just so she could claim back the air he had stolen from her. She blinked, trying to process the memories.

James blinked back. 'You have…you had…Rachel, was her name.'

Juliet's hand shot to her mouth. She had been seventeen.

SEVENTEEN! Well, she hadn't been seventeen for decades. Not to mention everything that had happened since then.

_Decades ago…or a few years in the future (1986)_

'Juliet, tell me you are not considering going out with that Edmund jerk at your school!' Rachel told her crossly.

'I am,' Juliet replied unaffected, continuing to read her book and sucking the straw of her coke.

They still came in those tall glass bottles.

Rachel groaned. 'His already losing his hair!'

Juliet shrugged. 'You know, its not all about looks…that's just shallow.'

'So you actually like him?'

Juliet shrugged again. 'I have the summer to make up my mind don't I?'

Rachel groaned and blew her chestnut hair out of her face. 'Well, why didn't you stay at mum's if wanted to see him and _better _decide?'

'I missed dad,' Juliet went on. 'And besides, I'll just _know _if I love him or not.'

'Love? Excuse me? When did you start associating that prick with the word "love"?' Rachel snorted sitting back against the sticky red seat and licking ice cream of her spoon.

It was the little ice cream and snack parlor of Madison Avenue. Their dad lived a few blocks away and Jasper was the boring sort of place that floated on hot air in summer.

Juliet ignored her and made the annoying slurping noise coke made when it was finished. 'Is there anyone below the age of thirty and above the age of twelve that lives here?' Juliet asked, finally putting her book down and considering the deserted parlor. It was mid afternoon, and according to prime time soap operas kids their age loved to hang out at the local "place" to be.

Rachel swooped forward and pretended to slam into the table from boredom. 'Why did he pick Alabama?'

Suddenly however, she shot up. 'Hold on. People around here should have something to do…I'll make you a deal.'

Juliet took the time swallow back her tinkling fear. Rachel's deals were never entirely safe.

'Try hanging out with these kids, like, get a boyfriend or something…'

'But Edmund-.'

'Edmund is having hot pool party in Florida in his daddy's mansion!' Rachel told her sharply, making Juliet cringe a little.

Boys didn't really seem to notice her much. Juliet was quiet most of the time, her nose buried in one book or another. Her gold hair curled up and fell right down her back, she was tall and slender…anything a girl would want to be around boys.

The problem was she didn't know how to _act _around boys. She was a little here a little there, to eager, to controlling, to quiet, never "just right".

'What about you?' Juliet asked frowning; it wasn't like she would hate the idea of a boyfriend.

'Max is picking me up tomorrow morning, I'm coming back when the holidays are over,' Rachel answered smiling, right, yeah, _her _boyfriend of course.

Rachel was the opposite of Juliet. She was loud, and if school was a person, she'd tell it to go fuck itself, and teachers were close enough… Rachel was plain. She had brown hair, brown eyes, a few centimeters shorter than Juliet, nothing that really turned heads. But nothing stopped her. She never even considered a week in the future.

Juliet, had planned her whole life; she would go to med school, she'd get married to someone she'd meet there, they'd fall in love, they'd have kids, family picnics, grandkids, a happy death by age…average shit everyone lived through and liked to imagine.

Maybe she would have a dog along the way too…

Once she got out of high school, she just _knew _life had to get better than this.

'Are you in?' Rachel asked.

Well, a summer love would be one thing to tell her kids about…a fun story of how she finally became one of the "cool kids". Yeah, she could handle that. 'Duh,' she answered, getting up to get more coke.

'Excuse me, can I have another one?' she asked as she approached the counter.

'Yeah, whattaya wan'?'

Juliet blinked twice, where had the plump lady gone? And why the hell was this guy so rude? 'Coke,' she answered, arching her eyebrows.

But as she watched him go to the fridge her she realized he was cute…scratch that, the most amazingly attractive guy she'd ever seen. He had grey eyes, sandy blonde hair and a mild tan, his stubble shaven, but beginning to become pronounced.

_His probably just up him self, _she thought.

'You know, you'd get more costumers if you had better manners,' she told him as he came back and waited for her to pay.

He raised an eyebrow and gave her an incredulous look. 'Sorry, princess, that'll be a buck.'

Juliet fished the money out of her wallet and handed it to him, then took her coke, but instead of going back to Rachel, she took a seat on the stool. He might be rude, but he could probably help her find out where people were. 'I'm guessing you live in this town?'

The boy nodded, putting the cash away. He seemed disappointed at that.

'Where is everyone?'

'Down by the creek, but ya gotta be one of em to hang out there.'

'Why aren't you down there?'

He frowned in annoyance. 'Are we playing twenty questions?'

'Yes, what's your name?'

'None of your business,' he answered, laughing humorlessly.

'Well, I'm Juliet.'

'Good for ya.'

Juliet frowned and squinted at his nametag…Jimmy was beyond rude. 'Jimmy?'

He looked up at her, his features softening a little. 'Yeah, ya got it.'

She examined him for a minute, deciding she didn't care what he would think of her. 'Can I call you James?'

His frown deepened, but he seemed to actually think about it. When he looked up, he seemed defeated somehow. 'Sure, whatever.'

'Jules, c'mon. Dad's waiting for us to go that stupid fun raising shit his set up…'

Juliet looked toward the back were Rachel was signaling her then back at James. 'See you soon?'

He nodded and seemingly shrugged at the same time. 'Don't mention me if ya go to the creek, alrigh'?'

Juliet raised an eyebrow, why? He seemed like of those kids who had everything set. He had the looks and he was somehow magnetic.

Not any old magnet…a chick magnet.

She nodded. 'Sure, thanks for the drink.'

He nodded back and watched her leave; no one had called him James since his mum died. Why the hell had he let _her _then?

_Stuck on Craphole Island_

'She's why ya wanna go back, ain't she?' he asked, looking up at her, amazed, but curious, he had met Rachel the day after he had first met Juliet.

Juliet took a deep breath. Here was her chance to tell him. Everything. 'It was because of you…you're the reason…Edmund and…'

Suddenly however, it was too much. She felt her tears coming before she could hold them back, her heart pounding in her throat.

She wouldn't be standing there with him if it weren't for what happened that summer. She would have never have known of the _island _if it weren't for those days.

'Goodnight James.'

He struggled to his feet, hobbling after her as fast as he could, but he was barely half way down the corridor when the door was slammed shut. James leaned against her door; panting at the sudden exercise she had given him.

'Juliet, talk ta me!' he called through the door, knocking. 'C'mon!'

Suddenly someone at the door interrupted him, knocking rapidly.

'Son of a bitch!' he growled, looking at the door and beginning to limp to it. He opened the door with ore force than necessary.

'Yes!'

'Jim…'

Fuck, why the hell was Bella here? She was the last person he wanted to see after remembering _that_.

'Well, I eh…I brought you this…and tell Juliet I'm sorry…'

James frowned hard. What the hell was she talking about? Juliet was the one who had punched her wasn't she? This was strange, but it got stranger when she handed him a large vanilla envelope with Juliet's name on it.

'I wish you guys the best,' Bella went on, smiling shyly. Well this was a serious turn around from the girl he'd slept with a couple of weeks ago…

What happened to _not _thinking about it?

James nodded. 'Yeah, thanks.'

Bella nodded too and bid him goodnight, but James hardly listening, instead his fingers were aching to open the envelope.

He shut the door and returned to the couch, turning it around and around in his hand. He stood again, this time taking his crutch with him and easily hovering over to Juliet's door again.

'Bella left this,' he told her through the door and slid the envelope to her beneath the door.

He heard shuffling and the crackling of paper.

THUMP.

A dead flat noise reached him, abruptly ending, heavy and worrisome. If he didn't know any better he'd say she had fainted. But he didn't know any better and called her name. Again and again, until he was pumping his fists into the door.

'JULIET!'

Why the hell would you need a lock on a bedroom door?

He continued for a few more minutes before he finally gave up, backing away from the door and swinging on his crutches, the kicking the door with one foot. Stomping into it as hard as he could. The door rattled and cracked under pressure, but it kept standing.

'JULIET!'

It wasn't exactly working.

_A while ago…or soon… (1986)_

He got home at five that afternoon, the letter in his back pocket as usual. Nothing out of the ordinary, except he hadn't been thinking about anything, except that girl he'd met...Juliet.

He thought she was pretty. Very pretty…and he liked that she seemed to have a brain in her head too. She seemed confident and nice...tolerating

He had made a list that went on for a while yet.

'Jimmy? That you?' His uncle called out to him when he got in through the door. He heard his uncle begin coughing and spluttering.

'Yeah, it's me,' James replied taking of his shoes tiredly and going to the living room. 'Ya hungry?'

Doug, his uncle nodded back. 'As hell.'

James began to stir around in the kitchen, heating the previous night's dinner and pouring a tall glass of water.

Suddenly the phone rung, it was loud and rattling. He picked it up with a shaking hand.

'Hello?' he said, his voice young and vulnerable.

'Jim, this, ya might call a friendly reminder, but ya still owe us.'

The dead tone hit his ear and James slammed down the receiver, his heart throbbing in his chest and his breathing labored.

He owed them six grand; he borrowed the last year to pay for his uncle's surgery. He was still a fucking kid and he owed these guys six grand. They'd told him they'd kill him if he didn't pay back on the second year. So he started saving what he could from his earnings at the shop, but he was paying for food and the bills too.

He was not a dime more than ten bucks into that six grand.

'Who was that Jimmy?' James heard the microwave and his uncle go off at the same time. No time to be scared. No time to stand around. Hastening, he grabbed the food on a tray and carefully took it back to the dull living room.

'Nobody, wrong number' he answered, setting the tray on the coffee table and helped his uncle into a sitting position, taking the cigarette from him and snuffing it out on the ashtray.

James grabbed his jacket and pulled it on again.

'Where ya going?' Doug asked, coughing and forking chicken.

'It's Sunday, I got the night shift at the gas station,' he answered, racking a hand through his hair and rubbing his neck.

His uncle nodded, thinking hard to remember Jimmy's second job.

_Later On An Island…_

He found her on the ground when he finally cracked open the lock. The papers were in her hands, clutched in her fist as she sat, leaning against the bed, tears dry on her face.

'Juliet?' he slowly lowered himself beside her and discarded his crutches. 'What the hell happened?'

Juliet let out a breath. 'Nothing, nothing happened.'

James frowned hard. Why the fuck was she on the ground crying then?

'She changed them, the results,' she told him her face contorting into pain. 'I'm not having…its not…'

He hushed her, and put an arm around her shoulder. Wasn't this meant to be good news?

'I was ready for it…' she told him quietly, letting the papers drop the short distance. 'I was happy.'

James laid kiss in her hair. 'It ain't like it won't _ever _happen.'

Juliet felt like asking him when, but she let it be. His having hope made things nice. She shut her eyes and focused on the past. That year when they'd sat like this many times.

'Why didn't you tell me before you left?' she asked him, moving closer.

James put his other arm around her, sheltering her from the world. 'Because I never meant to leave. They were chasing me, so I ran.'

Juliet breathed him in. Yeah, she remembered he had gone through hard shit.

Their pain was mutual.

She felt his tears against her own cheek and she held him tighter. 'Its not fair.'

'Its never been fair,' he answered.

* * *

><p>I feel bad for James...but fear not, there will be happy times too...hope your not getting bored yet...There will probably be a couple more 1986, tell me if you like them...but if not, I can just put the background their give into their talks and stuff. Not much else... to say, but leave a review please, I'd really like to know what you think of the new developments.<p>

Right, thank you for reading, means a lot to me,

R.F.A


	13. Jimmy & Jet

_Before, or later…(1986)_

'Hey, kid!'

James turned to see a fierce looking brunette strutting up to him. He tiredly wondered if today was his lucky day, but she didn't look fierce in _that _way.

'Me?' he asked, pointing to himself. Well, no shit it was him, he already knew.

'Yeah. You're Jimmy right?'

James glanced around at the deserted park, swings trailing back and forth in the light twilight wind, the seesaw dead on one hand and flying on the other. He nodded, he'd say something fickle and smart-assed, but this girl didn't look like she was kidding with him.

'Yesterday, at the shop you met Juliet…she's my sister.'

He nodded again.

'Okay…this is going to sound stupid, but I made a bet with her…and stuff about a boyfriend…God she's gonna kill me if she…anyway the point is you look like you know this place pretty well,' Rachel went on rolling her eyes at herself and making James unsure who she was actually talking to at times.

'Do you know the kids?'

He thought for a moment. Not really, no. He'd dropped out of school three years ago and when he was in school he'd been the odd ball. He still stayed out of their way to avoid being beaten up.

Beatings so far?

Three in school, five not in school.

It must've been a damn record.

'Yeah, kinda,' he finally settled on a neutral answer.

'If she tries to do anything stupid, try and help…I seriously wouldn't be asking you, cause you don't seem all that responsible and shit, but you're the only person I know around here,' she told him weakly. 'Juliet's kinda tame, but she can do big time crazy shit sometimes…'

James frowned. Why the hell should he help this girl? He could hardly take care of his uncle. People were after his neck already. 'Yeah, whatever, I'll try ta, but I got work and shit.'

Rachel nodded. 'Its kay and I'd do it, but I'm going to Mexico, please just make sure some asshole doesn't trap her or anything.'

Well, there were a lot of assholes around…especially near the creek. That was were the rich kids lived, because houses would have lake views and all the girls would wear bikinis and hook up and smoke and do drugs…well you get the picture, they'd try everything they could because they could afford it.

One day of their spending could pay of all of James' depts.

'Okay, sure I watch her.'

Rachel nodded. 'Thanks Jimmy.'

She smiled and turned beginning to walk away from him, leaving him in a daze.

'Watcha name?' he called after her.

'RAY-CHEL!' she shouted back.

James nodded to himself. He could probably hang out with this Juliet. He hadn't really hung out for years, if he ever had.

_Later in Dharmaville _

He should be moving out now and they could pretend nothing ever happened. They never knew each other; she never might have been pregnant. Same sort of doubts you have in the morning when you wake up and you can't tell shit from shit.

'You shouldn't be at work, your going to die on that leg of yours,' Miles warned him, rooting around in the files to find the next one.

James rolled his eyes. 'I ain't crippled its fine, and since when'd you get ya degree?'

Miles just rolled his eyes. James was in more pain than he let on, he was just in his pissy mood.

Change subject then…

'Jim, are you ever going to go home? Or are _visiting_ Juliet forever?' Miles asked raising an eyebrow as he signed off his shift to James. 'Cause man, Jin really snores.'

James thought for a moment. 'I'll talk to her about it tonight.'

'If you're sleeping together then just stay there for shit's sake!' Miles told him loudly, his tone obvious and patronizing.

James opened his mouth to retort, but…

'Ah, gentle…men…I was hoping to find you both here,' great, Horace heard that. 'Well, I'm taking names down for the Hydra recruiting list that leaves in a month or so. Anyone interested?'

'Yeah, sure thing,' James answered immediately. He needed time to sort himself out and he guessed he'd probably do it better when he was away from Juliet.

'Miles?'

'I'll think about it…'

'Okey, dokey then. See you guys soon,' Horace said smiling, then turned and whistled his way out of there.

'What happened to sleeping with Juliet?' Miles laughed, incredulously.

James took a deep breath, too deep in thought to be disfigured by Miles snide remark. 'I'm not.'

_Back in the days (1986)_

'Jules, don't take me too seriously with my bet,' Rachel said as she closed her suitcase; Max was coming to pick her up in half an hour.

Juliet frowned and crossed her legs on Rachel's bed. 'Why?'

Rachel just rolled her eyes. 'Well, I mean have fun and stuff, but don't be an idiot. I heard the kids down at the creek are assholes…'

'What? What am I going to do for four weeks then?'

Rachel sighed, went to her dresser and began to run the brush through her dead straight hair. 'Find something else to do. What about that Jimmy kid at the ice cream place?

'How do you know his name?' Juliet asked raising an eyebrow.

'Ears…I have ears. Just don't go to the creek too much…or you know, don't go at all, forget the bet.'

'What the hell am I going to do then?'

'Hang out with Jimmy, he's sexy, he seems normal enough…'

'He has no manners!' Juliet protested.

'What the fuck are you smoking? Hello? I barely have _any _manners,' Rachel snorted

Juliet opened her mouth to argue, but she closed it when Max honked his car horn from down stairs.

'We're going to Mexico…but don't tell dad Jules!'

She clenched her fist and let out a short, hot breath. Who said she was _that _good anyway? Who said she couldn't be the rebel, she could mess with the creek kids if she wanted to…

Max honked the horn. Riiighhtt, Rachel was going to Mexico with her hot head boyfriend.

'Call me, so like, I know you made it,' Juliet said nonchalantly as she followed Rachel down the stairs.

Rachel finally stopped on the front porch. 'Take care, don't get knocked up, don't go into drugs and try _not _to get killed.'

'Yeah, always full of great advice Rache.'

She hugged her sister anyway and held on tightly for a few seconds. They bickered and fought, but that didn't make them any less "sibling". Still, she was going to see those "creek kids", Rachel wouldn't be there to steer her into the boring direction for once in her life.

'Where's your sister going?'

_About time he showed up, _Juliet thought and she leaned her head on her dad's shoulder. 'LA, OC, got some friends up there apparently.'

'Oh good, I thought she'd get bored here,' her dad answered, waving to Rachel who rolled down the window and blew kisses as Max began to speed away, almost hitting a trash can in the process. Juliet cringed.

'Have you seen my glasses? Can't see sh-should we go inside?'

Juliet laughed. 'Yeah, real smooth dad.

_Later…much, much later...a bit before?_

Juliet sat at the kitchen table warming her hands with a mug of coffee, wondering what Rachel had told James.

Her main encouragement to go around with James had been Rachel. Not that she needed any encouragement around him. God, she missed Rachel and she refused to believe anything else besides her being happy.

Dead was not on her list.

And neither was sick.

It was the stuff her nightmares were made of.

Suddenly however, the stuff her dreams were made of walked through the door, his face haggard and tired. He seemed half dead.

'James?' she asked, hurriedly getting to her feet and rushing to him.

James however seemed to be tumbling in a vertigo of his own, swaying from side to side, his leg stained with blood. He fell forward, slowly, like a tower about to come crashing on a city, but Juliet reached him in time, leaning most of his weight on to her and gently helping him to the bedroom.

'James? What happened?' she asked him as they were reaching the door.

He laughed shakily. 'Nothin' just used it too much…'

He resolved into a low hiss, baring his teeth in pain.

The finally reached the bed and she leaned him against the headboard. 'I told you not to go back to work yet!' she snapped as him, striding back to the kitchen looking for first aid box and to wash her hands.

'It just hurts, that's all,' he retorted playfully whilst sweat beaded his forehead. He seemed drunk with the mere pain.

'Its bleeding!' she shot back, cutting open the leg of his jumpsuit.

'That's my favorite pair,' he whined, smiling with he eyes closed. 'Ya better sow it back!'

Juliet let out a breath of frustration. 'You do not deserve to be taken care of! You're like thirteen year old!'

James opened his eyes and gave a strange look, trying to configure if she meant it, he knew she was right, but it depended if she believed it too.

He wasn't worthwhile, he knew it.

But did she?

'Stop looking at me like that,' she told him with out looking back at him. 'Trust me, I wouldn't be doing anything if you weren't worth it.'

Yeah, she was oblivious.

'Nice way ya got with men don't ya Blondie?' he asked, unable to breath, his leg shaking badly.

'No, just you, now shut up, I think you actually broke it,' she said, cleaning the wound and disinfecting it, then threading the needle. 'Keep still.'

James let out a short breath. 'That what ya say to all ya'r patients?'

Juliet rolled her eyes and propelled his leg onto her thigh where she sat on the bed.

Hmmm, he had nice legs…they felt nice on her's…she looked down the length of his leg.

Wasn't the whole leg thing for men?

Well, there wasn't any part of him that was exceptional…so she might as well…

'Uh, Blondie, ya killing me with the damn suspense, stop checking me out and get with it!' he snapped his leg quivering worse than before.

Right…his wounded.

She took the needle and a deep breath, her hands shakier than a fucking intern's. This was sooo unprofessional. In fact, she would probably fire herself if she could.

'Alright ready?' she asked.

'Ready as I'll – as I'll ever b-be,' he answered, grinding his teeth together.

Finally she began, her hands still shaking, but steady enough.

In, out, in, out, don't mess up this is James, in, out, in, out, James, James, in, out, and tie a knot.

'Ugh…'

He had finally passed out from whatever it was he had been fighting all that time. She cut the thread and took a deep breath. She cut off the rest of his jumpsuit, pretending it was nothing special, uh-huh, nothing…nothing…but wow is he beautiful.

Funny, she'd never really associated any man with the word beautiful. She begins snipping away again, cutting, cutting, cutting through his nametag, yeah, fuck Jim; it was James she was _really _looking at.

It was James who had been her first, her best…and here he was again. It was James she had loved so much; it was James who had taken care of her. It was James making her life so fucking hard.

James was the only point in her life she was given a second chance to relive, to live with.

Lost in her thoughts she went on…then out of nowhere…

Well, hello!

She did not know he had a tattoo. It was at the right hand side of his torso, roughly running sideways down his hipbone.

_Vitam Nostram Scribimus_

She mouthed the words, her eyebrows high. It meant; we write our life. She paused for a moment, running her thumb along it gently, it was written in bold letters, all capital and a centimeter space between each word.

It was in Latin.

Suddenly however he stirred and she moved on, taking off the rest of his jumpsuit until it was just James, his boxer short and the bed. She gently pulled the covers up to his chin and turned of the bedside lamp, the words on him tattooed to her mind.

She packed away the first aid box and began to move away, when he suddenly grabbed her arm, his eyes only partly open. He whispered, 'Jet?'

Juliet swallowed hard, but sat back beside him. God, she hadn't heard that for years. Jet, he'd invented it during that summer at some point with her help. He'd always thought her name was too formal and he never seemed to pronounce the "L" when he said it anyway. She closed her eyes for a moment. Nothing would happen if she slept beside him would it?

He wouldn't mind would he?

She probably would. They couldn't do it again, if it was meant to happen, it would have happened.

She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, slowly loosening his hands from her elbow and slipping away from him. It was better if they weren't tempted, because friends were friends. There, that's it.

FUCKING FRIENDS!

But who said being friends didn't have its benefits? No, that never worked out. Everyone thought it did, but it didn't. She stood up and rushed out of the room before she could change her own mind.

* * *

><p>James woke up, wished he could go back to his sleep. In his sleep things were working out. Juliet was still Jet, and he was leaving Jasper with her forever and never looking back.<p>

No islands. No planes. No Kates. No Jacks.

He shook it off however and looked down at his leg. Good still attached. Didn't feel like it. James slowly sat up swallowing to sooth his brick-made tongue and looked about in the room lit by the morning.

It was cold. Hhmmm, he might owe that to the fact that he was more than half naked…he grinned at the thought of Juliet stripping him for a moment, but immediately stopped; if he didn't he'd soon be in need of a cold shower as well as a hot one.

James slowly got up, reaching for his crutches and swinging to the closet, opening it and fishing out a pair of jeans.

It took a while, but he finally got it on, but doing up a belt proved too much with crutches, so he left it without one.

He rolled out of the room and toward the kitchen, his stomach yowling for food, when snoring from Juliet's room interrupted him. He chuckled, pushing open the door and poking his head inside. She was fast asleep on her front splayed out on the bed. Beside her the clock read nine.

James reached her as fast as he could, his immobile leg catching onto her bra, which was on the floor. It was white, neutral…sexy…

STOP! He seriously didn't want a cold shower.

He sat on the edge of the bed and suspended her…erm…item of clothing above her, tickling her nose with it. He tried not to think of which part of her it usually went on…

She woke up with a sneeze, sitting up abruptly and at his sight she groaned and fell back onto the pillow again.

'They didn't fit me,' he joked, throwing them on her face.

She groaned again. 'My room's a fucking mess…JAMES!'

She finally noticed it was her bra he'd been referring to and _she _wasn't wearing one. She smacked him away, making him turn away from her.

He snickered, 'Nothing I ain't seen before, chill.'

Her mouth finally fell open, realizing he was referring back to almost twenty years ago. She punched his shoulder from behind.

'Aaghh!' he protested, straightening up.

'Well there was something I hadn't seen before,' she told him pulling on her dressing robe over her tank top.

James raised his eyebrows and looked back at her. 'Yeah, what's that?'

He knew this was just going to end with him in the shower and her somewhere, smiling the way she did when she got his goat.

'_Vitam Nostram Scribimus,' _she repeated his tattoo, her accent almost perfect. 'Why?

'Why what?' he asked, pretending he didn't know. That tat was pretty low on his hip…

FOCUS!

She leaned over him, a hand on his shoulder, craning her neck to see the alarm clock.

'Oh cra – eam!'

'What ya five?' he laughed, trying not to consider how close she had been to him a few moments ago.

'No, just don't want to swear so early in the morning,' she answered, pushing back into her own spot on the bed and getting up. 'It's a bit like drinking. You should never really do it, or if you do…at night.'

He laughed at that, remembering her having told him before. 'Somethings never change,' he called after her as he watched her grab her jumpsuit and rush to the bathroom.

Juliet rolled her eyes, saddened a little; the things that were important did change. She hurriedly dressed pulling on her dark navy jumpsuit as quickly as she possibly could and pulled on her socks. Splashing her face with water, she grabbed the towel on her way out.

'Coffee?'

'Your supposed to be resting, this is what happens when you don't listen…' she said smiling despite her efforts to keep him seated. She watched as he leaned against the counter and reaching for the cups and coffee whilst juggling the sugar in between sometime.

He finally handed her the mug of coffee she could've gotten from the cafeteria faster, but she smiled, it was worth more than time.

James was worth more than time.

'Thankyou,' she said, taking a sip and putting it on the counter so she could pull on her boots. He nodded and leaned against the doorframe, his crutches next to the light switch. She hurriedly grabbed her mug by the handle and began moving fast, but she got stuck at the doorframe.

Technically, her lips got stuck _at _the doorfram, on James'. He tasted the coffee on her lips, but he wasn't sure if he should've added a second sugar.

Fuck, he wasn't sure if he should be doing _this, _but he kept going because he could feel her tongue somewhere, somewhere near his.

Waves went crashing and they were head over fucking heels. Except the beach was a good fifteen miles or so away. Yeah, just the mug, splashing her boots in the process.

Juliet pulled away first and looked at him.

James smiled lightly, awe and…and admiration all over his face. 'Wanna go on a road trip?'

Juliet swallowed and rolled her tongue around, tasting him, his lips that had been hot on her's. He was a better kisser than she could've guessed. 'I'm gonna get fired,' ha, she didn't give a fuck's shit about getting fired…or kicked out of Dharma, as long as she knew James would go with her.

He moved closer, or rather shuffled closer, a hand beside her head on the door that was wide open. He moved closer until her chest was touching his. He kissed her again, his hand a little above her knee. 'Road trip?'

Juliet blinked trying to clear her sudden drunken stupor. James. Bad boy. Convicted fucking felon. Asshole. Just like Quinn. Whiner.

Yeah the cons seemed to be more than the pros: Their past. His arms. His eyes. He nose. His hand and fingers. …That tattoo she longed to see again…taste.

'No. No. No.' she said making the word clearer with her time she said it. She kissed him back quickly just to remember the taste of his lips and slipped out of her little dome between him and the door. 'Not today James. Not yet.'

She was _not _going to base her only healthy relationship with a man on lust and sex. No, no, no sir, no sex. Not yet. Not for a long time.

Maybe never, who said you couldn't be in love with someone who you didn't have sex with? Love wasn't all physical. Shakespeare never thought so…

The irony was Romeo and Juliet had definitely had _it _too and Romeo had never been as sexy as James.

Arms; hands; fingers; eyes; hair; tattoo; kiss…there was a fucking mix tape with everything she wanted to touch and feel in that moment.

'Bye James,' she said, her voice shaky, her hands shaky, her lower lip shaky, and her insides shaky. She was quivering EVERYWHERE.

No man had ever done that…oh, except James himself…back in the day…

James took a deep breath and grabbed his crutches. 'Yeah, later.'

He hurriedly moved away from the door as he saw Agnes approaching, smiling at him and looking at him funny. He realized he did need a cold shower now.

That Agnes was one sexed-up old lady…James gagged at the thought…maybe he wouldn't need that shower after all…but he looked around him, considering doing something special for Jet…JULIET! For JULIET!

She wasn't "Jet" anymore…it didn't fit her now somehow. It didn't feel like it ever would again anyway…

He swallowed. Yes, yes, he would like that shower very much now.

* * *

><p>Ha, sorry about the themes they're a little more than usual ;] but that's how it goes when James and Juliet are involved. Please tell me what you think, I love the feedback, good or bad seriously doesn't matter. Almost fifty reviews...I thank all the reviewers, because i really didn't think I would get this much good feedback or any, so much better than expected!<p>

Anyway, hope it wasn't too long of a chapter,

R.F.A

Ps. Hope "Jet" wasn't too weird, but I was looking for something a little less along the lines of "babe" and usual nicknames...


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